Carol Jean Kaumo

Sisters Killed in Car-Train Crash Saturday

Roxanne Wilkison, 15, of Lance Creek and her step-sister, Mrs. Carol Jean Kaumo, 24, of Cheyenne, daughters of Harold Wilkison of Lance Creek, were killed instantly Saturday morning when the car in which they were riding hit a Union Pacific train at the Silver Tip Refinery Junction 10 1/2 miles south of Torrington. Mrs. Kaumo's five year old daughter, Nadine, was seriously injured. She has a concussion, broken leg and one arm is broken in two places.

All three occupants of the car were thrown out when the southbound car hit an eastbound three-car freight train. The Highway Patrol reports 58 feet of skid marks left by the car. Evidently the train was not noticed soon enough for the women to stop. The car hit the train at the left front and spun around hit the engine a second time near the middle. The train was not able to stop until it was about half mile beyond the accident. Speed of the train was estimated at 40-60 m.p.h. Speed of the car could not be estimated.

The entire front portion of the car was torn off. The women were both thrown some 40 feet from the point of impact. The car came to rest some 60 feet from the impact point.

Five-year-old Nadine is reported progressing satisfactorily in West Nebraska General Hospital in Scottsbluff.

John Roth and Dennis Clocker, Goshen County farm workers, witnessed the accident. They were northbound in a vehicle on the other side of the tracks and noticed the Wilkison car approaching the crossing. The train cut off their view as it passed between them and the Wilkison car. The Wyoming Highway Patrol credits the men with perhaps saving the life of Nadine by applying immediate first aid.

The women were traveling to Cheyenne from Lance Creek to see the home Mrs. Kaumo's husband Jack had purchased only the day before.

Goshen County Coroner James Hogg said an inquest will be held.

FUNERAL WEDNESDAY
Funeral services for both Roxanne and Mrs. Kaumo are being held from the Peet Chapel in Lusk this Wednesday afternoon.
Pastor Richard Korns of the Manville and Lance Creek Community Churches is officiating. Mrs. J.P. Watson is organist and she is accompanying Mrs. Korns and Miss Caroline Hammond who are singing "Going Down the Valley" and "The Old Rugged Cross."

Casket bearers for Mrs. Kaumo are LeRoy Gries, Pat Miller, Jack Hammond, Bob Sides, Larry Hall and Raymond Moore.

Casket bearers for Roxanne are Harold Miller, Garry Miller, Kenny Neilson, Hugh Ray Clingman, Monte Nelson and Murray Butler.

Burial is in the Lusk cemetery.

Carol Jean Wilkison was born July 15, 1943, in Lusk to Harold and Nellie M. McCoy Wilkison. She was married to Jack Kaumo of Cheyenne.

She is survived by her widower and one daughter, Nadine Nanett of Cheyenne; her father, Harold Wilkison of Lance Creek; her mother, Nellie M. Clingman; and a brother, Hugh Clingman of Grand Junction, Colo.

Roxanne Wilkison was born September 1, 1951, in Lusk to Harold and Birdie E. Crane Wilkison. She was a sophomore at Niobrara County High School in Lusk.

She is survived by her father, Harold Wilkison of Lance Creek; a brother, Ronnie McCallister of Baxter Springs, Kan.; and a sister, Joe Leane Heaton of Minneapolis, Minn.

Her mother died last summer.

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