Olney Blast Claims Second Victim

An explosion and fire that destroyed an Olney bicycle parts factory has claimed a second victim.

Rick Ryals, 35, of Olney, died at Memorial Medical Center in Springfield on Friday night, a spokeswoman said. A preliminary autopsy listed the cause of death as “complications of burns on over 40 percent of his body,” Sangamon County Coroner, Norman Richter said Tuesday.

The February 28^th blast also killed 24-year-old Kenneth May of Olney, whose body was found in the basement of the Weinmann Sports Inc. building. May died of a skull fracture and massive blunt trauma to his head, chest and pelvis.

Investigators still had not determined what caused the explosion which injured 26 people, Butch Granger, a spokesman with the state fire marshall’s office, said, Tuesday. Arson was not suspected, he said.

Two workers remained in critical condition, while another’s condition was upgraded to serious. A fourth employee was in stable condition at Richland Memorial Hospital.

Journal Gazette (Mattoon, IL) – Wednesday, March 8, 1995

Rick David "Ricky" Ryals, 35, of Olney died Friday March 3, 1995 at Springfield Memorial Medical Center in Springfield, Illinois the result of injuries sustained in the explosion at Weinmann Sports, Inc. on March 1, 1995.  Weinmann makes bicycle wheels and other parts for Roadmaster Corp. in Olney.

Burial in the Greenhill Cemetery south of Noble.

Ryals was born September 3, 1959 in Mena, Ark. the son of Victor and Sarah Pauline (Runyon) Ryals. He married Joyce E. Shaffer in June 1988.

He worked as a polisher at Weinmann Sports in Olney. He was a member of the Pentecostal Church in Olney.

He is survived by his wife, of Olney; his mother of Calhoun; a stepson, Steve Dawson of Olney; three stepdaughters, Mary Ellen Rupp at home, Darla Dawson of Mitchell, Ind. and Karla Peora of Olney; three brothers, Samuel Ryals of Olney, John William Ryals of Claremont and Bryan Ryals of Calhoun; a sister, Patricia Meador of Mena, Ark.; four grandchildren.

Ryals was preceded in death by his father and a sister.

Published in Olney Daily Mail (IL)