Robert Lee Edmiston, 46, of Peoria, former resident of Olney and son of Walter O. Edmiston, was fatally injured late Saturday morning, February 1972, in a car-train accident at Atlanta, Ill. southeast of Peoria.  Mr. Edmiston died about 2:15 Saturday afternoon at St. John's Hospital in Springfield, about three hours after the accident.

Seriously injured in the accident was Mr. Edmiston's wife, Elsa Brady Edmiston, 19; and the driver of the car, Robert E. Wilson of Maroa. Mrs. Elsa Edmiston is a patient in the intensive care unit at St. John's Hospital.  According to investigating state police, the three were in Wilson's car, with Wilson driving, when the car pulled onto the tracks of the Gulf, Mobile and Ohio Railroad at a crossing in Atlanta, into the path of an approaching train.

Mr. Edmiston and Elsa Brady were married in Abingdon, Ill., August 21, 1971.

Surviving in addition to his wife, are three children by a former marriage, David, Charles and Laura, all of Abingdon; his father, Walter O. Edmiston of Olney; and a sister, Mrs. Larry Hartley of Peoria. His mother, Mrs. Tressie Gayer Edmiston passed away December 18, 1971.

Robert Edmiston is a native of Olney where he graduated from high school. He served during World War II in the U.S. Navy. He later received a degree in Journalism from the University of Illinois, and was associated with various newspapers, including five years with the Decatur Herald & Review. For about five years he was advertising manager for the Shelbyville News, and for about ten years he had published seven weekly newspapers in Abingdon, and he had sold his interest in these papers last August and moved to Peoria.

He was a member of the First United Methodist Church in Peoria and was a Board Member of the Illinois Press Association for several years.

Funeral services at Summers-Marshall Funeral Home in Olney with Dr. W.A. Robinson officiating. Interment in Haven Hill Cemetery with full military honors by Olney veterans organizations.

Published in Olney Daily Mail (IL) ~ February 21, 1972