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Letter from Campus: Not forgotten
There were six in the car. They were headed to the Wichita River Festival. Five members of women’s crew and their coach. Near Emporia, Kansas. Friday, May 17, 1974. They were to row the following day.
Exams were over, the school year done. Commencement was that weekend. Women’s crew was in its infancy. They were traveling by rental car, a Chevy Impala. This would be the fourth and final event that spring.
It was about 1 in the afternoon. They were maybe 65 miles from their destination — on I-35 about 25 miles southwest of Emporia — when a “piggyback” semi merged into their westbound lane. Strong, gusting winds blew the truck’s empty trailer into the car.
Beth Corbin was driving. She was 18 and from Port Huron, Michigan. Next to her was the team’s coach, Frank “Clete” Graham, 21, from Blue Bell, Pennsylvania. Next to him was Boni Burton, 19, from Hot Springs, Arkansas.
Across the backseat were Joanne “Jody” Gormley, a 19-year-old from Indianapolis, Mary Gumble, 19, of Springfield, Illinois, and Elizabeth Storey. Storey was 21. She was from South Bend. Her father, William Storey, was on the theology faculty at Notre Dame and is now an emeritus professor.