Extracted from The Hattiesburg American (Hattiesburg, MS)
Four killed in head-on collision
Three Hattiesburg residents and a Laurel businessman were killed in a head on collision about 12:45 a.m. Sunday about 20 miles north of Laurel. It happened on Highway 15, a mile south of Stringer just inside the Jasper County line.
The dead are Dennis Hays, 26, of 102 Saucier Dr., Hattiesburg, a display artist for Sears Roebuck;
His wife, Margot Smith Hays, 25, and English teacher at Jones County Junior College;
David Leonard, 27, of 210 North 24th Ave., also an English teacher at Jones County Junior College;
Harold M. Matison, 52, vice-president of FIne Bros. Matison Co. of Laurel and Hattiesburg.
Officers said there were no witnesses to the accident and details were not known. Matison was alone in his station wagon and the Hays couple and Leonard were the occupants of the car involved. The three Hattiesburg residents were believed to be returning from Bay Springs, where they had attended a teachers' party.
Matison was believed to have been killed instantly. It required three hours to remove his body from the crushed vehicle.
All of the occupants of the car were pronounced dead on arrival at Jones County Community Hospital.
Services for Mr. and Mrs. Hays were to be at 3 p.m. today at Hulett Funeral Home chapel with Dr. John E. Barnes, Jr. and Rev. Kermit McGregor officiating. Burial was to be in Roseland Park Cemetery.
Mr. Hays was a graduate of Hattiesburg High School and the University of Southern Mississippi. He was a member of Temple Baptist Church.
Mrs. Hays received her bachelor and master's degrees from the University of Southern Mississippi and was working on her doctorate while teaching for her second year at Jones County Junior College. She was a member of Main Street Baptist Church.
Mr. and Mrs. Hays leave a two-year-old son, Dennis Irvin Hays of Hattiesburg.
Mr. Hays also is survived by his parents, Mr. and Mrs. I. Harold Hays of Hattiesburg; a brother, I. Harold Hays, Jr. of Dallas, and a nephew, Gayden Hays of Dallas.
Other survivors of Mrs. Hays are her parents, Mr. and Mrs. W. Irvin Smith of Hattiesburg; a sister, Mrs. George (Carol) Garner of Hattiesburg; and her paternal grandmother, Mrs. L. C. Smith of Laurel.
Services for Mr. Leonard will be at 2 p.m. Tuesday at Memory Chapel Funeral Home in Laurel with burial in the Sandersville Cemetery.
A native of Sandersville, Mr. Leonard was a graduate of Jones Junior College and received his bachelor's degree from Mississippi State University and his master's in English from the University. He had taught at Southeastern Louisiana University before coming to Jones County JC in 1970. In addition to being an Eniglish [sic English] teacher he was sponsor of the yearbook, The Lair and the paper, the Radionian.
He is survived by his mother, Mrs. Frances Porter of Houston, Tex; his father, James Burnell Leonard of Meadville; and two sisters, Mrs. Betty Patrick of Heidelberg and Miss Mary Leonard of Meadville.
Services for Mr. Matison were to be at 2 p.m. today at Thompson Funeral Home in Laurel with burial to follow in the Jewish section of Lake Park Cemetery there.
A prominent business and civic leader, Mr. Matison was vice-president of Fine Bros. Matison; president of WAMI, a radio station at Laurel; general manager of the All-Laurel Stores; a director of the Commercial National Bank; president-elect of the Industrial Committee of 100 of Jones County, and was president of the United Givers Fund.
He was a past president of the Laurel Chamber of Commerce and the Laurel Retail Merchants Assn.
Survivors are his wife, Bobbette; a daughter, Mrs. Martin Pollock of Atlanta; a son, Harold W. Matison, Jr., of Laurel; a brother, Dave Matison of Hattiesburg; and a sister, Mrs. Abner Freeman of Minneapolis, Minn.
At least six others were killed in weekend traffic accidents in the state, according to the Associated Press.
Monday, December 18, 1972