Two Olney Teens Die in Crash

Two local teen-agers are dead after their motorcycle crashed into the rear end of a slow-moving tractor and cultivator, north of here Monday night, May 30, 1988.

An investigation is continuing into the deaths of Jerry Paul Cummins, 19, driver of the motorcycle and John Bradley Roth, 17, who died instantly about five miles south of Ste. Marie at the Ste. Marie blacktop and Dundas Road.

The teens were southbound on the Ste. Marie Road at 10 p.m. when they came upon a tractor driven by Roger L. Hemrich, 25 of Olney State police said that the tractor was equipped with a yellow caution light. It was pulling a cultivator.

A determination if there were sufficient lights or warning devices on the farm equipment, apparently is part of the ongoing investigation.

Ilinois law gives farm equipment access to the roads if properly lighted.

The two teens had been classmates at East Richland High School in Olney. Roth was completing his junior year. Cummins had just graduated from International Air Academy and was a ramp agent for Trans World Airlines in St. Louis.

Richland County Coroner, Susan Landis Bromm said she has yet to determine where the two youths had been in the hours before the accident. It is believed the friends were en route home to Olney.

Hemrich, who was not injured in the crash, told Bromm he had been working in a field north of Ste. Marie and was on his way home.

Herald & Review (Decatur, IL) -  Wednesday, June 1, 1988

Jerry Paul Cummins, 19, 1116 N. Morgan St., Olney died Monday night, May 30, 1988 in a motorcycle accident on the Ste. Marie Road.  Burial in Hanna Cemetery.

Jerry Cummins was born in Olney, October 14, 1968, the son of Gary and Wilma (Morgan) Cummins.

He was a ramp agent for TWA Express in St. Louis, Mo. and was a recent graduate of Internation Air Academy in St. Louis, Mo. He was a 1986 graduate of East Richland High School.

Survivors include his parents; four sisters, Mrs. Steve (Cindy) Totten, Olney, Mrs. Todd (Diane) Koertge, Parkersburg, Mrs. Bryan (Donna) Brooks, Sumner, Cathy Cummins at home; grandmother, Della Cummins, Olney and grandfather, Fred Cummins, Sullivan.

He was preceded in death by an uncle and maternal grandparents.

Published in Olney Daily Mail (IL)