Wife of William J.

OBITUARY
The Rochester Sentinel

Monday, July 23, 1956

A Hammond woman died and seven persons were injured Saturday evening in a broadside collision just south of the Tippecanoe river bridge on U.S. 31, north of Rochester.
Mrs. Agnes BOWEN SWEENEY, 64, a native of Fulton county, died in the crash which investigating officers believed resulted from wet pavement created by what one observer termed a "moderate rain." Eldon LEEDY, R.R. 3, Rochester, told police that he was following the Dodge being operated by Elmer W. DURHAM, South Bend, which was southbound at about 6:30 p.m. A northbound Buick went into a skid at the crest of a small hill and struck the Durahm vehicle just back of the front fender. Durham, 46, sustained a broken nose and facial cuts and his wife, Elizabeth DURHAM, 50, suffered fractures to both wrists and face cuts. Both were taken to Woodlawn hospital where their conditions this morning were reported as "good." David C. FRANCIS, 19, Whiting, driver of the northbound Buick in which Mrs. Sweeney was a passenger, suffered a dislocated shoulder, and his wife, Agnes FRANCIS, 17, sustained a fractured pelvis. He is reported in "good" condition and Mrs. Francis as "fair" in Woodlawn hospital this morning. Also injured in the crash, and passengers in the Francis vehicle, are Billy Ray FRANCIS, 3, son of Mrs. Alice Francis, Whiting, and his brother, John P. FRANCIS, 8. Both are in "good" condition this morning in Woodlawn hospital. Edward J. WRIGHT, 31, also of Whiting and a passenger in the Francis car, sustained a broken neck in the crash. He was treated at Woodlawn hospital and then transferred to the St. Margaret's hospital at Hammond Sunday. His bride of two days, Darlene WRIGHT, escaped injury.

State police and the Fulton county sheriff's office investigated the crash which raised the county's highway death toll to 14 since last Labor Day. Mrs. Sweeney is the eighth head-on crash victim in the county in recent months. Authorities are uncertain as to why the Francis vehicle went into a skid. Leedy, in a statement to officers, said that the southbound South Bend car was trveling at a reasonable rate of speed for weather conditions and that it did not appear to him that the Francis-operated Buick "came over the hill too fast." He said he could not, however, estimate the rate of speed of either of the two vehicles.
Police said the Whiting family had stopped in Akron to pick up Mrs. Sweeney who was visiting her sisters there. They were enroute to Whiting at the time of the crash.

Mrs. Sweeney was born Aug. 11, 1891, in Fulton county to Mark and Angeline BOWEN. She had resided in Hammond for the past five years. Her first marriage was to Raymond SHELLEY, who died; later she was married to William SWEENEY, who also preceded her in death.

Mrs. Sweeney was an ordained minister and also was employed as a practical nurse. She was a member of the Pilgrim's Rest Baptist church.

Funeral services will be held at 2 p.m. Tuesday at the Omega church, southeast of Akron. The Rev. TREESDALE will officiate and burial will be in the Omega cemetery. Friends may call at the Foster funeral home here until noon Tuesday, when the body will be removed to the church.

Surviving are six children: Mrs. Lillian POTSEL, Sugar Bush, Wis.; Truman SHELLEY, Wisconsin; Leo SHELLEY, Ohkosh, Wis.; Mrs. Esther HUNDLEY, Calumet City Mrs. Dorothy WALLACE, Hammond; Mrs. June MARTINEZ, East Chicago; two sisters, Mrs. Mae KEESEY and Mrs. Katy POWELL, both of Akron; seven half-brothers and half-sisters; Mrs. Beulah MULLER, Argonne, Wis.; Mrs. Enid KNORR, Summit Lake, Wis.; Mrs. Gladys FRITSCH, Antigo, Wis.; Aaron BOWEN, Green Bay, Wis.; Mrs. Amy MEAD, Chicago; Orlando BOWEN, Elkhart; and Charles BOWEN, Muncie; her stepmother, Mrs. Fanny BOWEN, Wisconsin; fifteen grandchildren and five great-grandchildren.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~