Freestone County, Texas
Obituaries


Mexia Daily News - Monday, May 21, 1962 - Page 1

Car Plunges Into Lake And Little Baby Killed 

  Estella Mae Dancer, three month-old daughter of a young Negro couple from 
Waco, was killed early Sunday morning when an automobile plunged off Highway 84 
and into Lake Mexia.
  She was the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Leonard Dancer, who moved to Waco from 
Mexia last fall.
   The Dancers, accompanied by  Leonard's uncle, Rudolph Bluitt of Mart, were 
enroute to Mexia. Leonard, interviewed at Brown Hospital Sunday afternoon, said 
he lost control of the car and it plunged into the lake. He said he didn't drop 
off to sleep nor did a tire blow out. 
  He said the car rolled into the water and flopped over on its side in about 
four feet of water. The baby was thrown out of the car.
  Leonard said he helped his wife and uncle out of the water and then went back 
for his baby. He found the child floating in the water.
  A young man living nearby in Sandy community came to the scene and returned to
a house for a car and took the family to the hospital.  The baby was dead upon
arrival at the hospital.  Mrs. Dancer was hospitalized with bruises but 
otherwise was unhurt.
   It has been reported that the father had walked all the way to the hospital 
with the baby in his arms but he said Sunday this was not true.
   Leonard, 19, graduated from Dunbar High School in 1961 and was employed at
Karner-Phillips before moving to Waco. His wife is the former Dorothy Mae Mack
of Mexia. She is 18. 
   Funeral services for Estella will be held at Dorsey-Keatts Chapel at 3:30 
Tuesday afternoon with the Rev. Robert Jones officiating. Burial will be in the 
Grove Island cemetery in Freestone county. 
  Besides her parents, she is survived by her grandparents, Mr and Mrs. Joshua 
Mack of Mexia and seven aunts and seven uncles.