JOSHUA LEWIS GIBSON
Sapulpa Herald,
Sapulpa, Creek Co., OK
11-10-1995
BOY RUN OVER BY SCHOOL BUS
By Bob Sherrill and Lorrie J. Quinnelly,
Herald Staff Writers
Tragedy again struck the Kellyville community when a 5 year old boy
was crushed under the rear wheels of a Kellyville school bus on its
evening route Thursday.
Joshua L. Gibson was pronounced dead at the scene of the accident 11/2
miles west of the Slick Road on West 171st Street.
Gibson had left the bus and was crossing in front of the 25,000-pound
vehicle when driver Billy McGuire, 56, of Bristow, started forward,
Oklahoma Highway Patrol Trooper, Shawn Ezell, said.
In a written statement, Kellyville education superintendent Dr. Dwight
Davidson expressed the sympathy of the district*s faculty and school
board to the Gibson family.
"We would like to express our deepest sympathy and heart-felt
condolences to the family of Joshua Gibson," the statement said.
"Our prayers go out to the family as we join in mourning the loss
of their son."
Eyewitnesses said the boy was knocked down by the front bumper and
the bus was passing over him when he apparently rolled under the left
rear dual wheels.
Ezell said the accident occurred within 50 feet of the boy*s residence
and in full view of his parents.
Kellyville High School sophomore Andre Hughes collapsed Oct. 2 at school
of a severe asthma attack. Attempts to revive him were unsuccessful.
He was pronounced dead at Bartlett Medical Center.
Witnesses to Thursday *s tragedy said McGuire appeared to be unaware
of the accident and had to be stopped by one of the women at the scene.
Ezell said McGuire then drove away from the scene and delivered the
remaining 25 children. The driver told a Tulsa television station that
the kids on the bus were screaming and he felt it best to get them home.
The trooper said McGuire later returned to the scen. He was a substitute
driver for the school district. The school district has suspended McGuire.
"Due to the nature of the tragedy
See BOY DIES, PAGE 2
== Note: that part of article is not included
Sapulpa Herald,
Sapulpa, Creek Co., OK
11-14-1995
Services for Joshua Gibson are scheduled for 1 p.m. in the Kellyville
First Baptist Church with the Rev. Rick Bateman officiating. Burial
is set for the Kellyville Cemetery, directed by Smith Funeral Home.
Casketbearers are Daniel Darnell, Sam Darnell, Jr., R.D. Harwood and
Nick Tremel. Joshua died Thursday.
SIMILAR ACCIDENT HAPPENED IN 1974
A similar school bus accident as that which occurred in Kellyville
Thursday happened in Sapulpa in 1974.
It took the life of 6-year-old Greg Washington of Sapulpa, a Liberty
Elementary School student.
"It was almost identical," said his grandmother Opal Billings.
"It was on Hilton Road. We owned some acreage out on the Hilton
Road and the bus was dropping him off there.
"My husband always went down to the bus to meet him. He (her husband)
was standing in th kitchen window and he saw it happen. This (the accident
in Kellyville) just brought it all to memory again."
Mrs. Billings said she thinks citizens need to bond together with the
school district to develop a means of preventing similar accidents in
the future.
"The whole town was supportive of our family at the time, and
we really appreciated it," Mrs. Billings said. "But it seems
it got swept under the rug, and now I have to wonder did we do enough
to keep it from happening again? Could I have done more?"
JOSHUA LEWIS GIBSON
Sapulpa Herald
Sapulpa, Creek Co., OK
11-12-1995
Photo
Joshua Lewis Gibson, 5, Kellyville, died Thursday, Nov. 9, 1995.
Services will be 1 p.m. Monday at the First Baptist Church of Kellyville
with the Revs. Rick Bateman and Steve Farmer officiating.
The casket will be closed during the service.
Burial will be in Kellyville Cemetery, directed by Smith Funeral Home.
He was born March 17, 1990 in Claremore. He attended Open Door Fellowship.
Survivors include his parents, Lewis and Carrie Gibson, of the home;
grandparents, Carl and Carol Hampton, Kellyville, Sam Darnell, Sr.,
Tulsa, and Lewis and Alberta Gibson, Kellyville; great-grandparents,
Sarah Darnell, Tulsa, Juanita Porter, Catoosa, and Glyds Wilson, Kellyville;
and a sister, Ashley Gibson, of the home.
Sapulpa Herald
Sapulpa, Creek Co., OK
11-13-1995
Services for Joshua Gibson are scheduled for 1 p.m. in the Kellyville
First Baptist Church with the Rev. Rick Bateman officiating. Burial
is set for the Kellyville Cemetery, directed by Smith Funeral Home.
Casketbearers are Daniel Darnell, Sam Darnell, Jr., R.D. Harwood and
Nick Tremel. Joshua died Thursday.
Kellyville Cemetery, Kellyville, Creek County, Oklahoma