Dear Editor:

I hope I can provide a little background for John Stroud’s March 19 story on the death of Pam “Granny” McPherson crossing Highway 82 near Carbondale.

Granny was returning from a St. Paddy’s day party at the home of her best friend Barbara, who lives directly across Highway 82 from Granny. At 10 p.m., while crossing the road on her way home, she was struck by two cars and killed instantly.

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Understand that Granny and Barbara were friends for 40 years. They lived 50 yards apart, and they visited every day. Barbara always drove across Highway 82 to Granny’s, and when Granny visited Barbara, she always walked. That’s the way they did it for a quarter-century.

Reporter Stroud wrote that, “Alcohol is believed to be a factor on the part of [Granny] McPherson …”

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That’s a pretty harsh assessment to get chiseled on anyone’s tombstone. The fact is that Granny had a sherry about four hours earlier. Anyone who knew her knows that she never abused alcohol.

As for what actually happened, we’ll never know, will we? Granny may have had difficulty judging the distance of oncoming cars. She had some recent history of losing her balance. She might have fallen. Remember, she was 85 years old.

But drunk? Never. Not in a million years.

Ed Colby

New Castle