Terry L. Spires, 23, Lewistown, Route 1, was killed about 12:45 a.m. Sunday morning when the car he was driving crashed through the roof of the home of Mr. and Mrs. D. D. Dallefeld on U.S. Route 24, about a mile east of Rice Lake. Dallefeld, 53, was listed in fair condition Monday morning after suffering a heart attack as the car crashed through the roof of his home. His wife, Gladys, was listed in fair condition.
The bizarre accident occurred when the westbound Spires vehicle left the Route 24 pavement on the north side, went over a ditch and up an embankment and was airborne about 135 feet before crashing through the roof of the home. The embankment is about 15 feet above the highway. The car crashed through the living room ceiling and stopped in the kitchen.
Fulton County Coroner George Kauzlarich said that it was one of the worst accidents in his 12 years of being coroner.
The Dallefelds had gone to bed and their bedroom was the farthest point in the house from where the car crashed through. The door to the room was closed, which prevented them from being injured. The bedroom was the only room of the house that was not destroyed by the impact of the automobile. The Dallefelds escaped from the house by crawling out of their bedroom window. They both thought the furnace of the home had exploded. Mrs. Dallefeld used a farm bell on a post to summon help because the car had torn down the phone lines.
Mr. Spires was born June 2, 1952, a son of Oscar and Minnie Smith Spires. He married Lynette McCombs on June 1, 1973 in Astoria.
Survivors include one son, Patrick, of Astoria; his mother, of Lewistown; two brothers, Richard of Lewistown and Larry of Havana; two sisters, Mrs. Sandra Laswell of Smithfield and Mrs. Carol Champ of Canton.
He was employed by Gale Products of Galesburg.
Funeral services were to be held at 1 p.m. this afternoon at Murphy-Sedgwick Memorial Home in Canton. Burial was to be in Apple Cemetery at Lewistown.
Current Obituaries in the Astoria South Fulton Argus