On Saturday, September 29, 1957, 15-year-old Ginny Dawson and 16-year-old Clarence Rudolph along with three other Spring Grove teenagers, decided to go roller skating at the Twin Lakes Roller Rink (now Donovan’s Reef). In the 1950s roller skating was a very popular and wholesome activity for teenagers. Ginny, the daughter of Spring Grove restaurateur Shirley Dawson, had a sunny disposition and many friends. Clarence grew up on the family farm and had six siblings. He showed champion Guernseys at the County Fair each summer, winning blue ribbons almost every year, and he had the grand champion in 1956.
Joining them were Kenneth Mansfield, 17, Timothy Lennon, 15, and Delores Smith, 16. It was around midnight that night when they left the roller rink and drove east to Wilmot Road with Ken at the wheel. The rest had tumbled into the car, sitting on each others' laps without a care in the world. They were traveling south on Wilmot Road when Ken failed to stop at the intersection at Route 173 and crashed into another vehicle. (Back then only the traffic on Wilmot Road had to stop).
New cars weren't nationally mandated to be equipped with seat belts until 1968, and without seat belts, crashes like this often proved fatal. Tim suffered a broken leg, fractured skull, internal injuries, and also lost an eye. Delores received leg and internal injuries. Sadly, Clarence was pronounced dead at the scene and Ginny died the next morning. Ginny's classmates were pallbearers at her funeral. Life changed for many, especially Shirley, who lost her only child.
Another tragic accident happened on Wilmot/Johnsburg Road on January 22, 1965 when a weekend ice storm caused havoc in the county. Spring Grover Patricia Todey, 16, was driving her brother to catch a bus to transport his basketball team to a game when, about a mile south of Rt. 12, her car struck an icy patch and went out of control. She hit a bridge and the impact caused them both to be thrown out of the driver’s side and through a barbed-wire fence, coming to rest in the creek. Gregory escaped unhurt, but Patricia died. She had been selected just two days earlier to play the leading role in the spring production “Sound of Music” at Marian Central high school. Her Marian Central classmates erected a memorial statue for her (and two other classmates killed in automobile accidents) of Our Lady of Grace made of carrara marble and imported from Italy. Her family lived at 1802 Main Street.
The first law that required vehicle occupants to wear their seat belts went into effect on Dec. 1, 1984, in New York state with other states soon following. Seat belts have been credited with saving more than one million lives since and are considered to be one of the most cost-effective public health inventions ever. Unfortunately the law came too late to save Ginny, Clarence and Patricia, who are all buried in St. Peter’s Cemetery.
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