Obituary of Donald Herman Sessions, Williamston, Ingham County, Michigan Contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by Gina ************************************************************************ USGENWEB ARCHIVES NOTICE: These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or presentation by any other organization or persons. Persons or organizations desiring to use this material, must obtain the written consent of the contributor, or the legal representative of the submitter, and contact the listed USGenWeb archivist with proof of this consent. The submitter has given permission to the USGenWeb Archives to store the file permanently for free access. http://www.usgwarchives.net *********************************************************************** Driver, 42, Dies; Train Derailed D.H. Sessions Employed at Sears Roebuck Co in Lansing by Kenneth Harkness State Journal Staff Writer Haslett, Oct 20 -- Donald Herman Sessions, 42, of rural Williamston, died instantly Wednesday evening when the automobile he was driving crashed into the side of a Grand Trunk Freight train at the Green Rd crossing about two miles northeast of here. Sessions lived at 2368 Eppley Rd about five miles northeast of Williamston. Coroner Darwin Hoffmeyer said the northbound car struck the train at 6:45 pm two cars derailed. Two empty refrigerator cars were derailed and a third damaged as a result of the accident. The 126 car "extra" train was traveling west. Railroad officials said that the freight service hours as a result of the accident and a passenger train, enroute to Chicago, was delayed in its arrival from Lansing from 2:10 am to 3:30 am Thursday morning. Troopers Walter Anderson and Harold Rowe of the state police who investigated the accident said they could find no skid marks on the road to indicate that Sessions saw the train. There are no flasher signals at the crossing, but it is marked with large stop signs and warning markers. Parts of Sessions' demolished automobile were carried several hundred feet down the track. The car struck the 24th car from the end of the train. John Leslie, Conductor and John Perry, brakeman, both of Port Huron, said they were riding in the caboose at the time of the accident when the train suddenly began to stop. The impact of the crash uncoupled the train between the 24th and 25th cars. The train had started from Port Huron at 2:25 pm Wednesday and had stopped in Flint and Durand. Mrs Sessions told the coroner that her husband was employed in the warehouse at Sears Roebuck and Company in Lansing but that he had a day off Wednesday. He had been working about the house, she said, until about 4 pm when he left without saying where he was going. The body was removed to the Gorsline Brothers Funeral Home at Williamston pending funeral arrangements. In addition to the widow, Elsie, he is survived by five daughters, Shirley and Pamela Kay, at home, Carol of Lansing, Mrs Marian Kirby, Mason and Mrs Sharon Zuniga, Aberdeen, Md; three sons, Donald, Dale and Vern, all at home; his mother and stepfather, Mr and Mrs Roy Parks, Williamston, a brother Floyd, whose address is unknown. Funeral services will be held at 2 pm Saturday at the Gorsline Brothers Funeral Home. jic