A Table Grove woman and her 15-year-old daughter were in Cottage Hospital in Galesburg with facial lacerations resulting from a two-car accident Wednesday, June 26, which took the lives of a 51-year-old Canton woman and an eight-year-old Rock Island girl.
Killed were Mrs. Frances Walters, Canton Route 2, and Melony Rutledge.
Mrs. Clara Rutledge, 59, Table Grove, was in serious condition and her daughter, Anna Mae Rutledge, was listed in fair condition the following day.
Mrs. Rutledge was the driver of a car which her granddaughter, Melony and Mrs. Walters were passengers.
The Rutledge car collided with an auto driven by Carl Rivers, 64, Knoxville Route 1. He was reported in serious condition.
The accident occurred when the northbound Rutledge car went off the road on Illinois 97 about one mile north of Maquon. When Mrs. Rutledge attempted to return the car to the highway, it started going sideways and the Livers car struck it broadside, shoving the Rutledge car into a ditch and overturning it, state police said.
Dr. Robert Nickerson, Knox County Coroner, said Melony is the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Richard Rutledge of Rock Island.
He said she was pinned beneath the wreckage and buried in mud. It was not known that she was in the car until after the ambulance was leaving the scene when her grandmother asked about her.
A wrecker was at the scene and she was found when the car was uprighted.
She was pronounced dead at the scene by Dr. Nickerson. Mrs. Walters was pronounced dead at the hospital by Dr. Nickerson.
Funeral services for Melony Rutledge were held at 2 p.m. Sunday at the Vermont Christian Church. Burial was in the Vermont Cemetery.
Melony was born Jan. 28, 1960, in Macomb, the daughter of Richard Lee and Marjorie Lucille Parsano Rutledge.
She is survived by her parents; a brother, Randy Lee of Rock Island; her maternal grandparents, Mr. and Mrs. Harold Parsano of Ipava; and paternal grandmother, Clara Rutledge of Table Grove.
The Richard Rutledge family are former residents of Astoria and they have several relatives in the area.
Current Obituaries in the Astoria South Fulton Argus