Extracted from The Tennessean (Nashville, TN)
Monday, April 30, 1956

Tullahoma Woman Killed in Collision

SHELBYVILLE, Tenn. -- A Tullahoma, Tenn., woman was killed and four other persons were injured in a two-car collision on Highway 231, approximately 10 miles north of here yesterday.

Mrs. Catherine Sanders, 37, died in Bedford county General hospital at 3:44 p.m. (CST), approximately three hours after the accident. She suffered a broken neck.

Injured were her husband, Wade Sanders, 36; their twin children, Wanda and Wade Jr., 5, and J. T. Holman, 69, of Bell Buckle, Tenn. The Sanders' other daughter, Linda, 12, was not hurt.

Sanders suffered chest and internal injuries, Wanda complained of a shoulder injury, and Wade received bruises. All were hospitalized here.

State Trooper Joseph J. Fleming said that the accident occurred during a rain and that the highway was “very slippery.” Sanders' car, headed toward Murfreesboro, began sliding, Fleming said, and Holman applied his brakes and also lost control of his car.

The Sanders, formerly of Spartanburg, S. C., were en route to Berry field at Nashville to meet Mr. Sanders' sister, Jean, who was to fly in from Louisiana. Holman was en route to Huntsville, Ala., where he is employed.

In another accident only a few minutes earlier and less than a mile from the other wreck scene, Charlie Laberan, 17, of Route 1, Christiana, Tenn., suffered a broken nose and lacerations.

Fleming said Laberan's car skidded on the wet pavement and struck a bridge railing. He was admitted to Rutherford hospital, Murfreesboro. The car, a convertible, was demolished.