| 114th Year, 1st Issue | Thursday, August 15, 2002 | Sparta, North Carolina |
LeAnn Nicholson Hamby of Hays, formerly of Alleghany, died in a single-vehicle accident Monday in the Thurmond community of Wilkes County, according to a report filed by Trooper Lane McNeil of the N.C. Highway Patrol.
She was a native of Sparta and is the daughter of J.D. and Iva Higgins.
Hamby, 28, was driving north in a pickup on U.S. 21 at 12:30 a.m., about seven miles north of Elkin and about one mile north of the Surry County line, when the wreck occurred, according to the report. The 1997 Chevrolet she was driving veered off the right side of the road, the trooper's report said. She over-corrected and lost control of the vehicle, which then ran off the left side of the road.
The vehicle plunged down a 75-foot embankment and then struck a tree before coming to rest. The wreck was not discovered until about 7 a.m. Monday morning, about six and a half hours after it occurred.
Wilkes County Coroner Howard Laney said it was early Monday afternoon before Hamby, the wife of Mark Hamby of Shumate Mountain Road, was identified by family members.
Laney said Hamby died from severe chest trauma and said he believes the death was instantaneous. Laney said that Mark Hamby searched for his wife when she didn't return home from her work at an Elkin restaurant, believed to be the Cimarron Steak House.
The coroner estimated the time of death at around 1 a.m., which is consistent with the trooper's estimate of the time of the accident.
A funeral will be held Friday at 11 a.m. at Grandview Memorial Chapel with burial in the Sparta Cemetery. A complete obituary appears on Page 9A.
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