Chester County PA Archives Obituaries.....Robert C. & Mary Fagley CONNOR, March 24, 1971 ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/pa/pafiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Dan Lindley Danoh19344@hotmail.co May 27, 2008, 9:10 am Daily Local News, March 25, 1971 A young Downingtown man whose wife died instantly in a one-car crash on Rt 322 yesterday morning followed her in death about four hours later. Robert C. Connor, 23, of 517 E. Lancaster Ave., succumbed to his injuries at 11:45 a.m. in Chester County Hospital, where Mrs. Mary Fagley Connor, 21, had been pronounced dead on arrival shortly after the 7:23 a.m. crash. The young couple’s orphaned two-year-old son, Robert Michael Connor, remains hospitalized in satisfactory condition with an abrasion of the scalp. State Police from Downingtown have pieced together what they believe to be a “true account” of how the fatal crash occurred, as a result of interview by Troopers James Kesler and George Meyers with witnesses who observed the crash that claimed the county’s 16th and 17th victims this year. WITNESSES’ACCOUNT Witnesses told the troopers they had been seen the couple’s Pontiac Firebird convertible headed east on Rt. 322 at a “high rate of speed”, with Robert Connor at the wheel. They said they saw the car pull into the westbound land and pass “at least two cars and a tuck” at the crest of a long hill just west of the West Chester by-pass in East Bradford Township, according to the police accounts. As he cleared the rest of the hill the driver, spotting an oncoming vehicle in the west bound land, pulled back into the eastbound land in an apparent attempt to avoid a head-on-collision, the witnesses told police. At that moment the convertible went out of control and slid, spinning clockwise, down the hill, rolling over several times, as it climbed an embankment and slammed into a 2,700 pound utility pole carrying a 30,00 volt transmission line. The pole snapped in two and torn from the ground by the impact, landed on top of the car. DIED INSTANTLY Mrs. Connor apparently died instantly, police said. Her husband, whose condition was at first listed as “serious”, lapsed very quickly into “very critical” condition and died at 11:45 a.m. Mrs. Connor, the daughter of Edward and Mildred Wolfgang Fagley, now of Florida, was a native of West Chester and a life long resident of the Downingtown area. She was a 1968 graduate of Downingtown High School and had been employed by Chester County Hospital and by Chemical Leaman Tank Lines. She was a member of St. Paul’s United Church of Christ. She is survived only by her parents and her son. Robert Connor, like his wife, was a native of West Chester, a lifelong Downingtown area resident and member of St. Paul’s United Church of Christ. MARINE CORPS VETERAN He was a son of Catherine Polini Hafer of Downingtown and the lat James Francis Connor. He was a 1966 graduate of Great Valley High School and a veteran of the service in the U.S. Marine Corps. A former employe (sic) of the Beloit Eastern Corp., he was employed at the time of his death as a truck driver for a West Chester carpet company. Surviving in addition to his son are his mother and stepfather, Mr. and Mrs. Robert Hafer of Downingtown; two brothers, James F III and Richard T; a stepbrother, Kevin Hafer; a sister, Mrs. Carol Lamb, and a stepsister, Miss Catherine Warren, all of Downingtown. Ibid: CONNOR- of 517 E. Lancaster ave., Downingtown, Pa., on Wednesday, March 24, 1971. Robert C. Connor, husband of the late Mary Fagley Connor in his 24th year of his age. Relatives and friends of the family are invited to attend the funeral services from the Edward L. Towson Funeral Home, 42 W. Lancaster ave., Downingtown, Pa., on Saturday, March 27, 1971 at 2 p.m. Interment Hopewell United Methodist Cemetery. At the request of the family there will be no viewing. Daily Local News, March 29, 1971 ROBET C. CONNOR MARY F. CONNOR Funeral services for Robert C. and Mary F. Connor, who died in an automobile accident just west of West Chester on Rt 322 on Wednesday, were held Saturday afternoon at 2 o’clock from the Edward L. Towson Funeral Home, Downingtown. The Rev. George E. Herbert, pastor of the St. Paul’s United Church of Christ, Lionville, officiated. Interment was in Hopewell United Methodist Cemetery, Hopewell, where the Rev. George Schneider, chaplain at Camilla Hall, Immaculata, assisted in the committal service Bearers were Richard T. Connor, James F. Connor III, Matthew J. Lamb, Robert Hafer, Julio DaPonte and Anthony Pollini. This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/pafiles/ File size: 4.9 Kb This file is located at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/pa/chester/obits/c/connor-rm.txt