DeBOLT, Sandy Jane: 1968-1982

DEBOLT, DOL

Posted By: Volunteer: Sherri
Date: 4/26/2016 at 10:19:22

The Fairfield Ledger
**Handwritten: 6-18-82

Bike-rider, 14, fatally injured

A 14-year old rural Fairfield girl was killed Thursday afternoon when the bicycle she was riding was struck by a pickup truck. The tragedy occurred 11 miles north of Fairfield on the Pleasant Plain blacktop, also known as county road H17.

Sandy Jane DeBolt was pronounced dead at 3:45 p.m. Thursday at Jefferson County Hospital from multiple injuries. Ambulance attendants still had the girl's heartbeat at the scene of the accident when they arrived at 3:17 p.m. The ambulance attendants tried to clear the girl's trachea to resuscitate breathing before leaving the for the hospital at 3:33 p.m.

The accident occurred at 3 p.m. at the intersection of H17 and 16th Street N.E., the first intersection east of Highway 1. Sandy and her twin sister Sharon were riding bicycles south on gravel-covered 16th Street N.E. The DeBolts live about two miles southwest.

Sharon had crossed blacktopped H17, but Sandy waited at the stop sign for a westbound tractor driven by James Millane, Route 4, Fairfield, to clear the intersection.

She thought it was safe to drive across the road, but apparently the tractor, which was hauling a disk, obstructed the eastbound pickup truck from her vision.

The driver of the 1970 Ford truck was William J. Arndt, 77, Route 2, Brighton. He had just crested the hill when the bicycle pulled directly into his path, according to Sheriff's deputy Gary Schultz. Schultz estimated Arndt took only 1 1/2 seconds to lock up his brakes. "The man had fantastic reflexes for his age," Schultz said.

But the girl was struck by almost the center of the truck's grill. Schultz said it was nobody's fault, but rather just a matter of no one having a clear field of vision. An Iowa State patrol trooper at the scene said Arndt was not exceeding the speed limit.

The trooper said the girl was thrown 143 feet from the point of impact with the truck. Her bicycle landed 190 feet away from the truck.

Sandy DeBolt would have been in ninth grade at Fairfield Junior High in the fall. She was a member of the junior high basketball and track teams.

She was born April 28, 1968 in Red Oak, the daughter of A. Dale and Renee Dol DeBolt. She and her family had lived in Stanton and Malvern before moving to Route 4 Fairfield three years ago.

Surviving Sandra are her parents and twin sister and brothers Nick DeBolt, Davenport, and Jerry DeBolt, Omaha, Neb. She was preceded in death by her grandparents.

Services will be Sunday at 3 p.m. at the Raymond Funeral Home with the Rev. William Sullivan officiating.

There will also be services Monday at 2 p.m. at the Nelson-Boyd Funeral Home in Red Oak. Burial will be in Emerson Cemetery in Emerson.

**Note: Picture accompanied obituary.

(Transcribed for genealogical purposes only.)