Extracted from The Shreveport Times (Shreveport, LA)
Monday, February 13, 1956

Tot Chokes To Death on Hard Candy

JONESBORO, Feb. 12 (Special). Dorothy Marie Savell, 3, was pronounced dead on arrival at Jonesboro Hospital at 2:05 p.m. Saturday after choking on a piece of hard candy that lodged in her throat.

Acting Coroner Dr. John Robinson said that the child “suffocated by strangulation.”

According to hospital authorities, the accident occurred as the child was waiting in a parked automobile with her brothers and sisters while the mother shopped in a local grocery. When the other children noticed the little girl choking, they called the mother, who ran to the car and drove the child to the nearby hospital.

Administration of oxygen and stimulants, and efforts to dislodge the candy failed, and the child was pronounced dead.

She was the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Andrew Savell of Jonesboro. Her other survivors include two brothers, Lynn and Carl, and two sisters, Quinda and Velda.

Funeral services were held at 3 p.m. Sunday at the New Hope Baptist Church with the Rev. W. W. Killen officiating. Burial was in Springhill Cemetery.