Sean C. Morgan
Dwight Templeton, 94, died early Thursday morning from injuries sustained in a crash on Dec. 10.
He died at 12:30 a.m. after suffering from a stroke, said Pearl-Marie Wheeler, his sister. He also had some problems with his liver.
The complications were probably related to his injuries, Wheeler said. His family reported that he had been sitting up and feeding himself earlier in the week, prior to suffering the stroke.
He was surrounded by his family all week since the accident, including his two sons and daughter as well as Wheeler’s daughter and a niece from Albany.
Services will be held at 1 p.m. on Wednesday at the Sweet Home Funeral Chapel. A graveside service at Gilliland Cemetery will include military honors.
Templeton’s wife, Frances, died in the crash. Templeton was injured and transported to Samaritan Lebanon Community Hospital and then transferred to Oregon Health Sciences University in Portland.
He was driving when his westbound car veered into the eastbound lanes of Highway 20 while approaching 18th Avenue. His car struck an eastbound school bus turning south onto 18th.
Sweet Home police have completed an investigation into the crash.
“We have concluded our investigation, while we’re still waiting for some final reports from the MAIT team,” said Police Chief Bob Burford. “There was no criminal conduct on the part of either driver, and therefore no further investigation is warranted.
“We may never know why he crossed into the the oncoming lanes, but it may very well be as the family suspects — due to some sort of medical distress with his passenger.”
Specific calculations, such as speed, probably won’t be completed, he said, but based on their experience and training, officers believe the vehicle was traveling in excess of the speed limit at the time of the crash.
The small school bus was used to cover a variety of routes, said Business Manager Kevin Strong. It was tough to even schedule an oil change for the bus.
The district has been using two extra Suburbans, used as high school activity vehicles, to cover for the loss of the bus, which had the district’s full-sized wheelchair access, said Transportation Supt. L.D. Ellison. The bus was used to cover the district’s regular special needs routes.