Wichita Eagle – November 4, 1957 – Page 5A

Car, Truck Collide

Near Syracuse

Two Wichitans were killed early Sunday in a truck-car collision five miles east of Syracuse, Kan. On U.S. 50.

Killed instantly was Mrs. Dorothy Peabody, 31, of 2012 N. Broadway. State Highway Patrolman jack Fehrenbacker, said death was caused by skull fracture. Fred Edward Pendergraft 26, of 1219 N. Broadway, also in the auto with Mrs. Peabody, died six hours after the accident in a Syracuse hospital. Fehrenbacker said death was caused by "severe" head and chest injuries. The truck driver, George Eugene Dillinger, Lamar, Colo., was not injured.

Dillinger told Fehrenbacker that as the car approached his truck on the highway, "it suddenly swerved across the center line and I was unable to avoid a collision."

Fehrenbacker said the driver apparently fell asleep at the wheel. He was unable to determine who was driving the auto.

It was believed the pair were traveling to Colorado Springs, Colo., to visit relatives of Mrs. Peabody.

Mrs. Peabody was born May 10, 1926 in Plainville, Kan. She married Jack Peabody, Oct. 4, 1947 in Colorado Springs. She was a member of the Nazarene Church.

Survivors include her husband, serving with the Army in Japan; her father, Frank House, 3400 W. 53^rd; her mother Mrs. Mae Sacks, Colorado Springs; two sisters, Mrs. Bonnie Wilmoth, Colorado Springs and Mrs. Evelyn DePreto, Gardenland, Calif., and a brother, Donald Ray House, Colorado Springs.

Her body was taken to Phillips Funeral Home in Garden City, Kan. Funeral services are pending the arrival of her husband from Japan.

Pendergraft was employed at Kansas Milling Co.

His survivors include an aunt, Mrs. Mable Self, 527 N. Emporia, and his wife, Bakersfield, Calif.