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- From the Seattle Daily Times (Seattle, WA), Monday, August 29, 1983:
"Car-Ambulance Head-On Collision Kills Six
by Lisa Konick, Times Staff Reporter
Alcohol is being investigated by the State Patrol as a cause of a head-on collision between a car and an ambulance which killed six people and seriously injured a seventh Saturday night on a rolling county road about 5 miles north of Republic, Ferry County.
The privately owned ambulance was taking an injured California woman from Tiffany's resort on Curlew Lake to the Republic hospital when it and a 1971 sedan collided about 9 p.m.
The hospital-bound ambulance passenger, 66-year-old Leona M. Devilbiss of Sacramento, was killed on impact, the State Patrol reported, as were the driver and all four passengers in the car.
The driver of the car was Robert N. Weaver, 26, of Curlew, a town about 29 miles north of Republic. The passengers were: Michael L. Bowers, 20, his brother Gene L. Bowers, 18, and Jimmy Brown, 20 all of Curlew, and Douglas L. Teter, 21, of Wauconda, a town 29 miles west of Republic.
A friend from Spokane who was riding with Devilbiss in the ambulance suffered a crushed left arm and fractured wrists and ribs. Ann Baier, 71, was admitted to Sacred Heart Hospital in Spokane.
Ambulance driver Lee Gay, 53, was in Ferry County Hospital. Gay owns Republic's ambulance and towing company, the State Patrol said. Ambulance attendant Alan Hawley, 35, also was hospitalized.
State Trooper Brad Miller said witness' statements indicated alcohol was a factor in the accident, but toxicology tests will have to be conducted. He said there was no evidence that Gay had been drinking and there was evidence the car had been speeding before the impact.
According to Weaver's family, Weaver and some of his companions had been drinking before the accident.
James A. Weaver, Robert's brother, said the group had been thrown out of the bar where they had been drinking in Curlew.
An employee of Tiffany's resort said the ambulance was called after Devilbiss, vacationing with her sister, brother-in-law and a friend, fell out of her camper and broke her hip."
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Connected Bloodlines
1916 - 1983 (67 years)
