Barbara was a classmate at Millstadt Consolidated School so this news upset all of us who knew her. She died too young.
The following is from an article in the Millstadt Enterprise (1980).
Barbara Ann (nee Mueller) Todd of Millstadt was pronounced dead on arrival at St. Elizabeth's Hospital in Belleville on Saturday, June 7 after sustaining injuries in a motorcycle accident on Kropp Road in rural Millstadt.
Mrs. Todd was born to Alfred William and Romilda (nee Boehm) Mueller on December 1, 1945 in Belleville. Her mother survives along with two children, Lori and Michael Todd, a broher, Leonard Mueller of Belleville and a siser, Mrs. Morris (Marlene) Schweickhardt of Columbia. Her father, Alfred Mueller, died on February 10, 1970.
Funeral services for the secretary at Millhaven Care Center were held on Monday, June 9 from Strauss Funeral Home in Millstadt, the Rev. Arthur Tinge officiating, to Valhalla Burial Park in Belleville.
Mrs. Todd was the passenger on a motorcycle driven by Ron Pettus, 29, of Millstadt, when they were riding about 1:10 a.m. on Kropp Road about six-tenths of a mile west of Oakdale School Road. Pettus told St. Clair County Sheriff's deputies that he was trying to avoid a head-on collision with a vehicle, approaching him from the opposite direction with bright headlights turned on, when he was forced to run off the road and the cycle overturned several times throwing him and Mrs. Todd from it.
Both were taken to St. Elizabeth's Hospital in a Millstadt Ambulance Service unit which had appeared at the scene about two miles west of Millstadt only 10 minutes after the emergency call was placed, according to the sheriff's department report. The report also said that the motorcycle, owned by Jeff Helfrich of Millstadt, traveled a total of 69 feet before coming to rest. There were no skid marks on the roadway, the report noted, and Pettus was administering cardio-pulmonary resuscitation to Mrs. Todd when sheriff's deputies arrived.
The motorcycle was found a few feet from some guard rails by a creek which flows under Kropp Road and it is believed that Mrs. Todd may have struck her head on one of the rails which she was found lying next to, facing in he same direction as the motorcycle was traveling. There was some blood, believed to be Mrs. Todd's, found smeared on the guard rail.
Sheriff's deputies said they also found a leather pouch containing liquor strapped to the back of the motorcycle, ut Pettus said he was unaware of its contents and there was no evidence ffound theat either he or Mrs. Todd had been drinking. Pettus told deputies that Helfrich often carries this pouch on the back of the cycle. The deputy sheriff's report of the accident also noted that neither Pettus or Mrs. Todd were wearing helmets at the time of the accident.
Mary Lou Diesel (Hascall)
Barbara was a classmate at Millstadt Consolidated School so this news upset all of us who knew her. She died too young.
The following is from an article in the Millstadt Enterprise (1980).
Barbara Ann (nee Mueller) Todd of Millstadt was pronounced dead on arrival at St. Elizabeth's Hospital in Belleville on Saturday, June 7 after sustaining injuries in a motorcycle accident on Kropp Road in rural Millstadt.
Mrs. Todd was born to Alfred William and Romilda (nee Boehm) Mueller on December 1, 1945 in Belleville. Her mother survives along with two children, Lori and Michael Todd, a broher, Leonard Mueller of Belleville and a siser, Mrs. Morris (Marlene) Schweickhardt of Columbia. Her father, Alfred Mueller, died on February 10, 1970.
Funeral services for the secretary at Millhaven Care Center were held on Monday, June 9 from Strauss Funeral Home in Millstadt, the Rev. Arthur Tinge officiating, to Valhalla Burial Park in Belleville.
Mrs. Todd was the passenger on a motorcycle driven by Ron Pettus, 29, of Millstadt, when they were riding about 1:10 a.m. on Kropp Road about six-tenths of a mile west of Oakdale School Road. Pettus told St. Clair County Sheriff's deputies that he was trying to avoid a head-on collision with a vehicle, approaching him from the opposite direction with bright headlights turned on, when he was forced to run off the road and the cycle overturned several times throwing him and Mrs. Todd from it.
Both were taken to St. Elizabeth's Hospital in a Millstadt Ambulance Service unit which had appeared at the scene about two miles west of Millstadt only 10 minutes after the emergency call was placed, according to the sheriff's department report. The report also said that the motorcycle, owned by Jeff Helfrich of Millstadt, traveled a total of 69 feet before coming to rest. There were no skid marks on the roadway, the report noted, and Pettus was administering cardio-pulmonary resuscitation to Mrs. Todd when sheriff's deputies arrived.
The motorcycle was found a few feet from some guard rails by a creek which flows under Kropp Road and it is believed that Mrs. Todd may have struck her head on one of the rails which she was found lying next to, facing in he same direction as the motorcycle was traveling. There was some blood, believed to be Mrs. Todd's, found smeared on the guard rail.
Sheriff's deputies said they also found a leather pouch containing liquor strapped to the back of the motorcycle, ut Pettus said he was unaware of its contents and there was no evidence ffound theat either he or Mrs. Todd had been drinking. Pettus told deputies that Helfrich often carries this pouch on the back of the cycle. The deputy sheriff's report of the accident also noted that neither Pettus or Mrs. Todd were wearing helmets at the time of the accident.