Kathleen "Skippy" Miller Gault (1907-1954)
(Mrs. George Gault)
Community Mourns Death of Two Prominent Women
Deep sorrow settled over the Shelby-Lowell communities when news reached here Sunday afternoon of the tragic accident which claimed the lives of two prominent area women, Mrs. George Gault, 47, of Lowell and Mrs. Vincent Manno, 31, of Shelby.Mrs. Gault, manager of the Foster Music Company's Lowell Studio, was accompanying Mr. and Mrs. Manno to the home of Mrs. Manno's brother, Francis, at Clairidon Hills, Ill., where they were to pick up an organ for the Mannos' 11year old daughter, Dianne, interested in learning to play.
At 1:30 p.m. Vincent was driving his panel truck along the Calumet Expressway and when about a mile north of U.S. 6, was rammed from the rear by a car which fled the scene. Mrs. Gault, thrown from the truck in the initial impact, was killed instantly when her head struck against a roadside piling. Mr. Manno was thrown through the rear doors, escaping with minor injuries, and his wife, also hurled from the wreckage, died in his arms five minutes later.
The cause of this tragedy is an 18-year-old Negro youth, James Sims of 1225 Fifth Ave., Chicago Heights. He left the scene but was pursued and overtaken by a Gary man and his wife, the Richard Sanders, who reported to police that Sims and his two Nergo companions had turned into the Shabonna Woods forest preserve at 159th and Torrence Ave.
Both women were retained at the DeYoung funeral home, South Holland, Ill., for inquest held Tuesday morning. The coroner's recommendation to the Grand Jury was that the youth be held on two charges of reckless homicide. Sims was turned over to the Cook county sheriff's police.
- Kathleen "Skippy" was born in Chicago Heights, Ill., August 24, 1907, the daughter of John and Marie Miller. She and her husband, George Gault, came to Lowell in 1942 and she immediately started to render community service.
She was a former choir director and organist of the Lowell Church of Christ. She organized and was directing the adult chorus of the Indian Trail Grange and for the past two years, since the establishment of the Foster Music Co., served as studio manager and also was a teacher. She instructed a class of pre-school children in voice and rhythm band, was currently giving private accordion lessons to 35 pupils and conducting a class of 14 advanced students in harmony and music appreciation.
Working towards a degree, "Skippy" was enrolled at the Rizzo Conservatory of Music in Chicago, having classes in accordion, organ, harmony and theory. She held membership in the I.L.L.A., a musical fraternity.
A person of rare generosity, "Skippy" readily made excuses for anyone's short comings and found some reason for liking everyone. She possessed unusual wit, talent and an ardent love for her community.
In the name of Foster Studio, "Skippy" and her students entertained widely over the county, winning much acclaim and many high honors. Her efforts were climaxed last summer when ten of her students were accepted to perform in the famed Chicagoland Music Festival and one tied for second place in accordion.
Among her most outstanding pupils were her own two daughters, Barbara, 13, and Kathleen, 10. Surviving with them and her husband are her mother, who makes her home with the Gaults; one brother, John Louis Miller of Chicago Heights, Ill.; a niece and nephew, Mrs. Arthur (Sally Miller) Lehman of LaPorte and Terry Miller, who was awarded his Second Lieut. rating in the Marine Corps on Saturday and was enroute home on leave when death came to his aunt, with whom he had made his home since a small boy.
Memorial services were held at 2 p.m. Wednesday at the Sheets Funeral home with E.L. Worley and Loren Holt, pastors of the Shelby and Lowell Churches of Christ, officiating. Interment was in the Lowell cemetery.
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