Alumni in the News

by Bonnie Barker '75 MS '77

When David Taylor and Linda Stickney-Taylor Ed.S. ‘82, Western Illinois University emeriti deans who live in Muskegon, Mich., boarded the Amtrak on Nov. 30 for a trip to Chicago, it appeared to be another routine ride.

Just before noon, from their upper-level view in the train's third car, David commented to Linda that the train should have slowed down since it was coming into the rail yard, but it seemed to be accelerating.

“Then I heard the brakes screech and a loud explosion. The next thing I knew, I was on the floor looking up at Linda,” David said. “The seat we were in broke loose from the train, and we were ejected.”

“I was so dazed I didn't know what was going on,” Linda said.

David suffered chipped teeth, facial cuts and bruises and had four eyelashes embedded in his eye. Linda had a tooth knocked out and a 5-inch-long gash in her leg that required stitches inside and outside. They both were so badly beaten up, a month after the accident their muscles still ached.

David said right before he and Linda were transported by ambulance to the hospital, a high-ranking firefighter stopped by to see them. That official was City of Chicago Fire Commissioner Ray Orozco BOT/BA ‘05, who orchestrated the rescue and site containment.

“We cannot say enough good words about our positive rescue experiences from the train,” wrote Linda in a thank you letter to Orozco. “What makes our story even more interesting is that we found out that you received your B.A. from Western Illinois University. My husband was Dean of the College of Education and Human Services and retired as the interim President in 2002. I was Dean of Continuing Education for 12 years at WIU and also retired in 2002.”

“We had such adrenalin hit after we were released from the hospital at about 5 p.m., we went to our hotel, ordered room service and wondered what we should do,” Linda recalled. “We had theatre tickets for ‘Wicked' for six months, so we went to see it as originally planned, but in our bloodied and torn clothes. Our luggage was lost so all we had was what was on our backs.

“The show was fabulous; David said he enjoyed it twice as much because he had double vision,” she added.

The train adventure is something the Taylors will never forget, but they didn't let it “derail” them from their February-March vacation: an Amtrak auto-train excursion from Virginia to Florida.

Articles  |   1  |  2  |  3  | More... |