| Brother, Sister Drown On Holiday Outing - A Fourth of July family outing ended in tragedy Monday when a 10-year-old boy and his 8-year-old sister drowned after stepping off into a sinkhole while wading in a remote area of the Clear Fork River. The two young victims were identified as Wheland Dwain Gibson and Patricia Ann Gibson, children of Dwain and Mertie Ann Gibson of the Smokey Creek community. both were students at Huntsville Elementary School. The Gibson's, along with their five children, had gone into the remote area in a four-wheel drive vehicle and were enjoying an afternoon of picnicking and swimming when the tragic accident occurred. The mother of the two victims who reported had to be pulled hysterically from the river by rescuers, went into shock following the incident and was transported later by ambulance to Scott County Hospital where she remained hospitalized on Wednesday. The bodies of the two victims were recovered by Clyde Anderson of Straight Fork, who was fishing with his wife about a mile downstream near the bridge at Burnt Mill Ford when he learned of the accident. Anderson, an excellent swimmer and diver, said the two apparently stepped off into a pothole some 15 to 20 feet deepHe described the undercurrent as swift at that point where he recovered the bodies located at the foot of a shoals. Three other younger children were reportedly also in the water at the time the incident occurred. With the exception of the Gibson family, the nearest persons to the scene were Eddie Smith and Bill Chambers of Robbins, who said they were upstream and rushed to the site after they heard screams. Both Smith and Chambers also joined in efforts to locate the two victims, and Smith later used Gibson's four-wheel drive Jeep to shuttle Rescue Squad personnel in and out of the remote area. Rescue Squad operations were made extremely difficult due to the rugged terrain. A four-wheel drive vehicle operated by Ray Cross of Robbins was also used during operation which included removal of Mrs. Gibson on a stretcher, along with surviving members of the family, and finally the removal of the bodies of the two victims, which was completed about 10:40 p.m. The drowning were believed to have occurred about 6:30 p.m. with the bodies being removed from the water by Anderson several minutes apart between 7:30 and 8 p.m. Smith described the area as containing a sandbar and a knee-deep wading area that extended across the river, but said it dropped of into a hidden sinkhole. In addition to their parents, the two children are survived by three sisters: Tina Kay, Jolene Gail, and April Dawn; and a grandmother, Mrs. Artie Marie Gibson, all of Smokey Creek community. Funeral services will be held at 1 p.m. today (Thursday) at the Smokey Creek Baptist Church, with Rev. Billy Lowe and Rev. Edmon Lowe officiating. Burial will be in the Smokey Creek Cemetery. West-Murley Funeral Home in Oneida is in charge of arrangements. (Source: The Scott County News, 7 Jul 1983, p1) |
