From the Beckley (WV) Register-Herald
March 17, 1984

Mary B. Kennedy
Mary A. Christian

Mrs. Mary Belle Lyons Kennedy, 44, of Mabscott and Mary Anna Christian, 27, of 307 Highland St., Beckley, were dead on arrival Thursday at 6:30 a.m. at a Beckley hospital of injuries received in a five-car accident on W. Va. 3 at White Oak, according to Raleigh County Sheriff's Department.

Born June 5, 1939, at Big Otter, Clay County, Mrs. Kennedy a daughter of Goldie M. Lyons of Cranberry and the late Edward G. Lyons.

Mrs. Kennedy was a member of the Cranberry Community Church, was deputy Raleigh County assessor.

She was preceded in death by two brothers, Charles and Carl Lyons and a sister, Anna Mae Arthur.

Other survivors include three son, David Arthur Kennedy, Jr., Robert Allen Kennedy, both of Mabscott and Johnny Ray Kennedy of Crab Orchard; two daughters, Kathy Sue Tolliver and Deborah Lynn Osborne, both of Beckley; four brothers, the Rev. Frank Lyons, Wayne Lyons, Monroe and Glenn Lyons, all of Beckley; a sister, Susan Bailey of Cranberry and 11 granchildren.

Born Feb. 4, 1957 in Mabscott, Mary Anna was a daughter of David A. Kennedy of Sissonville and the late Mary Belle Lyons Kennedy.

Mrs. Christian was a member of the Cranberry Community Church and was a housewife.

Other survivors include her husband, Kenneth D. Christian, a daughter, Lisa Marie Christian at home, three brothers, David Arthur Kennedy, Jr. and Robert Allen Kennedy, both of Mabscott and Johnny Ray Kennedy of Crab Orchard and two sisters, Kathy Sue Tolliver and Deborah Lynn Osborne, both of Beckley.

Joint services will be Sunday at 2 p.m. in the Cranberry Community Church with the Rev. Ernest Barley officiating. Burial will be in Blue Ridge Memorial Gardens in Prosperity.

Friends may call today from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. at the Rose and Quesenberry Funeral Home in Beckley and at the church one hour prior to services.

Pallbearers will be Troy Osborne, Lonnie Tolliver, Rick White, Bill and Jeff Griffith, Pat Lovell, Roscoe Webb, Milton Clay, Harry Duncan, Vernon Barley, Robert Tolliver and Paul Andis.

The following article appeared on the page 4B, column 1 of the Beckley Register-Herald
on Friday, March 16, 1984.

Five-vehicle crash takes lives of two in Raleigh

By Vaughn Rhody
Staff Writer

Mary Belle Kennedy, a Raleigh County deputy assessor suffering from throat cancer, was traveling with her daughter this morning to a Charlottesville, Va. hospital for a checkup.

Neither woman made it. On an apparently icy curve on W. Va. 3, just before Basham Brothers Garage, a five-vehicle accident took the lives of Mrs. Kennedy, who was in her 40s and her daughter Mary Ann Christian, in her 20s.

Three others were injured in the 6:30 a.m. accident. Sharon Holliday, 35, of Alderson and Herb Lee Edwards, 34 of Anderson, S.C. were being treated this morning at Raleigh General Hospital and no information concerning their injuries was available, a nursing supervisor said. A third person, William Adams, age and address unknown, was treated at Beckley Applician Regional Hospital and released, a BARH nursing supervisor said.

The accident involved Mrs. Kennedy's Jeep Cherokee, a tractor trailer, a yellow Plymouth driven by Mrs. Holliday, a coal truck and a parked car. Edwards and Adams were occupants of the tractor trailer, but police did not say who was driving.

The coal truck driver, John Groves, 23 of White Sulphur Springs, was not injured. He said he was traveling on W. Va. 3 toward Shady Spring to pick up a load of coal. As his truck rounded the curve, he saw the wrecked tractor trailer and the Jeep, which had flipped on its top. He said he slammed on his brakes which caused him to slide into the side of the Jeep, pushing it farther into the side of the bank on the inside of the curve.

"When you run around a blind curve like that and see an accident, it's scary.", he said. "I didn't know what to do. If I hadn't hit my brakes I'd probably been alright. When I hit the car, I just shoved it on up inside the bank."

Groves said the road surface in the curve was covered with ice.

Mrs. Holliday's car apparently was traveling behind the coal truck and veered off the right side of the road, crashing into the unoccupied parked vehicle, according to Ghent Volunteer Fire Chief Jimmy Coleman.

Groves said the driver of the tractor trailer emerged from his vehicle saying he had hit Mrs. Kennedy's Jeep Cherokee head on before crashing through a utility pole a few yards down the road.

Coleman said rescue workers had to use a jaws of life to free the two ladies from the Jeep Cherokee.

The damage to the utility pole left about 40 homes between the White Oak Post Office and the Beckley Reservior, said Kenneth Keatley, area service restorer for Applician Power Co. Keatley said he expected power would be restored by about 10 a.m.

Traffic on W. Va. 3 was blocked in both directions for about three hours. At 8:30 a.m. state Trooper R.D. Jones said he would have to complete his investigation and APCO would have to complete its work before he would allow one lane of traffic to reopen.

Cpl. Gary Lively of the Raleigh County Sheriff's Department also investigated. However, Lively and Jones said they weren't sure exactly what happened and it would be a while before the investigation would be completed.

County Assessor Odell Jessup, Mrs. Kennedy's boss said Mrs. Kennedy was a "very efficient and very good worker" who had worked in the assessor's office for about five years.

"I really hate the situation." Jessup said. "I'm really sorry this happened. It's real tragic, and we're really hurt."

A friend of Mrs. Kennedy's who is also a deputy assessor, Liz Acord said Mrs. Kennedy was a "conscientious worker and dedicated mother" who loved everybody.

"She was quiet, a dedicated worker," Mrs. Acord said. "We were just talking about how we'd all liked to have been more like her."

Mrs. Kennedy had six children, including Mrs. Christian.