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- [S23] Atchley Funeral Home, (http://www.atchleyfuneralhome.com/), 7 May 2013.
October 2, 1957 - May 7, 2013
Resided in Sevierville, TN
Richard Samuel "Rick" Allen, age 55 of Sevierville, was born October 2, 1957 and passed away Tuesday, May 7, 2013. He was formerly employed at Allen Barber and Style Shop which he co-owned with his father.
Preceded in death by his grandparents, D.F. and Mildred Allen, and Emmons and Ruth Parrott.
Survived by:
Wife: Sharon Kaye Terry Allen
Son: Keaton Samuel Allen
Father and mother: Richard and Marie Allen
Father-in-law and mother-in-law: Kenneth and Margaret Terry
Sister-in-law: Mary Anne McCroskey
Brother-in-law: Kenny Terry and wife Sheila
Nephew: Wesley Terry
Uncle and aunt: Robert "Bob" and Janene Allen
Special friend: Wayne Tipton
Funeral service 3 PM Saturday at Alder Branch Baptist Church with Rev. Jim Hutson officiating. Interment will follow in Alder Branch Cemetery. The family will receive friends 5-7 PM Friday at Atchley Funeral Home, Sevierville. (www.atchleyfuneralhome.com)
- [S106] The Mountain Press, 7 May 2013.
Man dies as SUV crashes in pond
Witness calls 911, tries to locate victim
JEFF FARRELL
Fatal wreck
Curt Habraken
Tony Hardin and James Stansbury, with the Sevierville Fire Department swift water team, search for a possible second victim after a handbag was found. The male driver was the only person in the SUV in the accident. Sevier County Sheriff's deputies pulled him from the vehicle when they first arrived on the scene.
KODAK —
Kayla Blankenship won't soon forget what she saw when she was looking out the kitchen window of her home off Douglas Dam Road Tuesday afternoon.
The 21-year-old Walters State student was alone at the house, which faces the intersection of Perry Catlett Drive and Luther Catlett Circle, when she saw an SUV careen through the stop sign, jump the curb and go airborne, plunge down a steep hill in her yard.
"I was walking to the kitchen to go get something to drink, and that's when I saw the black little SUV go past and just zoom through the stop sign and hit the curb and land," she said, pointing near the family's koi pond at the bottom of the hill.
"It didn't look like the guy had his brakes on at all," she said.
It landed on its front, crushing a bench near the pond, and then flipped onto its top in the water.
She ran to the phone and called 911, then came outside. "I jumped in the pond, opened the front door, checked the whole driver's seat, couldn't find anything," she said. "I didn't see anything in the passenger side or the back."
A neighbor who'd come out helped her out of the pond, and she went to get help from other neighbors. Unfortunately, the wreck happened in the afternoon, and few people were in their homes.
The first sheriff's deputy on the scene jumped into the water and found the driver, who was pronounced dead at the scene. Tennessee Highway Patrol is investigating the cause of the wreck, but had not released information on it Tuesday afternoon.
The driver's name has not been released, but neighbors said they believed he regularly visited family nearby and may have had a medical condition.
Blankenship's voice quavered as she described the incident to reporters shortly after it happened. She was still wearing the same clothes, although she said they had dried out in the warm, dry spring afternoon.
She said she didn't really think as she ran to the pond; she just acted. Once deputies and other emergency personnel arrived, they led her away from the scene. Her parents, family and neighbor were telling her how well she'd responded to the wreck.
jfarrell@themountainpress.com
- [S106] The Mountain Press, 10 May 2013.
Driver in pond crash identified
BY JEFF FARRELL
Cause of wreck unknown
SEVIERVILLE —Tennessee Highway Patrol has released the identity of a man who died Tuesday after losing control of his car and crashing into a pond, but the cause of the wreck remains a mystery.
Richard Samuel “Rick” Allen, 55, of Sevierville, had once worked with his father at Allen Barber And Style Shop, according to information provided by the family. They owned the shop together.
Allen died when he failed to negotiate the turn from Perry Catlett Drive on to Luther Catlett Circle. A witness reported the car ran a stop sign at the intersection and came straight across the road, hopping the curb and hurtling over an embankment and into a koi pond.
Kayla Blankenship, the witness to the wreck, was in the kitchen of her home and saw the car go into the pond in her yard. She ran outside to help, but was unable to find Allen.
A deputy found his body a short time later.
The report from Tennessee Highway Patrol didn’t offer any new insight into what might have caused Allen to lose control of his vehicle, but neighbors who lived on the road said he had family there who he sometimes visited and they believed he might have had a medical condition.
jfarrell@themountainpress.com
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