Newspapers Account of December 21, 1958

Auto Crashes Into Signpost; Driver Killed
Houston Chronicle
December 22, 1958

A 28-year-old father of three children, en route home after shopping for Christmas gifts for his family, was killed Sunday night when his car went out of control on the Gulf Freeway and crashed into a signpost a half mile east of Almeda-Genoa Rd.

Ronald B. Hutchinson of 5618 Woodgreen was dead on arrival at Pasadena General Hospital.

Police said Huthinson's car apparently went out of control, left the highway and struck the post.

Hutchinson, a Southwestern Telephone Co. worker, had moved here last September (1957) from Hartford, Conn. Soon after arriving here, Hutchinson's car was struck by another, and he suffered a neck injury.

Mrs. Hutchinson said her husband had been taking treatments for the injury since, and had planned to stop by the doctor's office Sunday night.

He is survived by his wife, and three children, Terry Ellen, 4, David Michael, 3, and Douglas 3 months (he was actually 11 months).

His death brought the number of traffic fatalities in Houston this hear to 79. There had been 95 traffic deaths at this time in 1957.

[picture of car]
A FATHER OF THREE DIED IN WRECKAGE
Ronald Hutchinson Was on Way Home From Christmas Shopping
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Man Killed When Car Hits Post
The Houston Post
Monday, December 22, 1958

Ronald B. Hutchinson, 28, of 5618 Woodgreen St. was fatally injured at 10:50 PM Sunday when his car rammed a signpost on the Gulf Freeway at the Almeda-Genoa Road cutoff.

He was dead on arrival at the Pasadena General Hospital with multiple head and chest injuries and both his legs and arms broken.

Accident Investigator J. M. Sherrod said Hutchinson was traveling at a high rate of speed and apparently missed the turn off on the Almeda-Genoa Road.

The car, apparently going at a high rate of speed, was demolished in striking the concrete post supporting the overhead signs, he said.

There were no skid marks leading to the sign, Sherrod said.

Hutchinson's death is the 77th traffic fatality in Houston so far this year compared with 95 fatalities for the same period last year.
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Apparently, the Houston Chronicle interviewed my mother. It is highly unlikely that my father was Christmas shopping on a Sunday night in 1958, especially past 10:00 PM. Also, he probably was not going by the doctor's office, late on a Sunday night. A few weeks later, dillustional, she told neighbors that she had killed my father.

It is interesting how the two Houston newspapers reported this event. The Post is no longer exists.
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One of my favorite pictures of my father was taken when I was about 18 months old. We are in the kitchen of my grandmother's house in Newington, Connecticut. We are sitting around the table and he is holding me. We both have this huge smile on our faces.

He described me in one of his letters "as strong as a bull" because I could lift up our single garage door when I was 2 1/2.

My favorite memory is when he wrapped my knee with strips of a sheet when I cut it deeply on my sister's toy sewing machine. I have written about this before, which I refer to as "The Blessings of a Scar."

I deeply grieved my father's death at least twice. Both times were at the funeral of two friends who died as young fathers. On both occasions, as I was grieving the loss of my friend, the pain went deep, to the core of my soul. I could feel my entire body grieving. It wasn't until years later that I realized that I was experiencing "grief on top of grief."