Norfolk City Virginia USGenWeb Archives Obituaries.....Stokes, Dorothy March 11, 1925
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Dorothy Strawhand https://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00034.html#0008405 January 30, 2020, 8:25 pm

Virginian Pilot and The Norfolk Landmark March 12, 1925
 
          GIRL KILLED, BROTHER SLIGHTLY INJURED IN TRAIN-BUS COLLISION

Dorothy and Edward Stokes, Former Driving, In Norfolk County School Vehicle At 
Time of Accident At Butts Station

Dorothy Stokes, 16, was killed, and Edward Stokes, 14, her brother, was injured, 
yesterday morning at 7:51 o'clock when a Norfolk County school bus, which the 
girl was driving, collided with Norfolk Southern train No. 4, bound from Raleigh 
to Norfolk, at Butts Station.  Both are children of Leonard Stokes, who resides 
on Great Bridge boulevard, near Oak Grove.
Eye witnesses were at a variance yesterday on details of the accident, some 
insisting that the bus ran into the train and others contending that the train 
struck the bus.  It was learned from witnesses that the bus was proceeding at a 
moderate rate of speed, while the train was moving at an estimated speed of 25 
to 30 miles an hour.  The girl and her brother had started out on their daily 
rounds of collecting pupils at the time the crash came.

                                 Died on Way to City
The train was brought to an immediate stop, it was said, and the boy and girl 
placed on a mattress in the baggage car and brought to Norfolk.  The girl died 
before reaching the city, but the youth's injuries were not found to be serious.
The bus was hurled approximately 150 feet down the track, most of its body being 
knocked off by the impact.  Pieces of it were scattered more than 200 feet from 
the crossing.  The bodies of the two children were found about half way between 
the crossing, where the collision took place and the station house, against 
which the bus wrecked itself after the crash.  Miss Stokes was unconscious when 
reached, but the boy, although badly stunned and slightly cut, quickly regained 
consciousness.
The school bus was proceeding up the Oak Grove-Kempsville road, bound to the 
Princess Anne road, to pick up children who attend the Great Bridge School.  The 
crossing is blind, and it is virtually impossible for motorists to see trains 
approaching from the south until they are within a few feet of the tracks.
Conductor B.T. Davenport and Engineer Carl Rochelle were in charge of the train.  
Several witnesses to the accident told Detective O'Neill, who is investigating, 
that they heard the train blow for the crossing.
Besides her parents and the brother who accompanied her at the time of the 
accident, the girl is survived by a sister, Miss Sarah Stokes and a brother, 
Leonard Stokes, Jr.
Funeral services will be conducted at the funeral home of J.R. Williams, 13 
Chesapeake avenue, South Norfolk, this afternoon at 4 o'clock by the Rev. E.K. 
Odell, pastor of Oak Grove Methodist Church.  Burial will be in Magnolia 
Cemetery.
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Miss Dorothy Stokes - Funeral services for Miss Stokes, who died suddenly 
Tuesday morning at Butts Station, Norfolk County, a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. 
Leonard Stokes, were conducted at the funeral home of J.R. Williams, 13 
Chesapeake avenue, South Norfolk, yesterday afternoon at 4 o'clock. The Rev. 
E.K. Odell, pastor of Oak Grove Methodist Church, officiated.
The attendance was perhaps the largest of any funeral yet held in this section 
for years, more than sixty automobiles followed the body to the family lot in 
Magnolia Cemetery. 
The floral tributes were in profusion.  Designs were given by the faculty and 
junior class of the Great Bridge High School, Epworth League of Oak Grove 
Methodist Church, by the secretary and nurses, Epworth League of Epworth 
Methodist Church, the Sunday School of Oak Grove Methodist Church, by the Great 
Bridge High School, the Sunday school class of which she was a member in Oak 
Grove Methodist Church and others.
Two duets were sung by Mrs. R.B. Rowland and Mrs. O.S. Mills, of Portlock.  The 
selections were "Abide With Me" and "He Knows It All."  Mrs. D.E. Lane was 
accompanist.
The pallbearers were Frank Barton, Holland Wood, Carlton Vance, Montville 
Walker, John H. Williamson, Melton Wright, Ernest Waterfield and John Fentress 
of the Great Bridge School.
As the body was born from the funeral home the students of the Great Bridge 
School formed a court of honor extending from the building to the street and 
stood at attention with heads bared while the body was borne to the hearse.

The Virginian Pilot March 13 1925




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