Mary B Spiker Lewman

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Obituary- Lewman, Mary 3

72-year-old Topeka woman dies
when ear, pickup Truck collide

By STEVE FRY
Capital-journal law enforcement writer
A 72-year-old Topeka woman who apparently was driving a few blocks with her husband to their morning coffee club was killed Wednesday when her car and a pickup truck collided at a southeast Topeka intersection. No traffic citations have been issued in the accident.

Topeka police identified the dead woman as Mary C. Lewman, 72, 3033 Colorado. Lewman was dead on arrival at St. Francis Hospital and Medical Center, a hospital spokesman said. Lewman died as a result of multiple injuries, said Dr. Roman Hiszczynskyj, Shawnee County district coroner.

Lewman’s husband, Leroy Lewman, 74, 3033 Colorado, was the only passenger in the Lewman car. Leroy Lewman was treated at St. Francis, then released, a hospital spokesman said. Police said Leroy Lewman suffered a head injury in the mishap.

The driver of the pickup truck, Phillip A. Cheatum, 30, 2010 E. 13th, suffered a minor injury to one leg, police said, but no record of hospital treatment could be found.

Topeka police said no alcohol was involved in the fatality accident on Wednesday. Mary Lewman’s death was the ninth traffic fatality on Topeka streets so far this year. In 1986, there were six traffic fatalities in Topeka.

The accident occurred at 7:23 a.m. at E. 31st and California, a T-intersection where 31st runs westbound from California.

Cheatum was driving a 1968 pickup truck south on California, and
Mary Lewman was driving a 1980 automobile east on 31st Street turning north onto California when the vehicles collided.

According to a witness, the Lewman car was driving slowly through the intersection, said Steve Huddleston, traffic officer. Cheatum saw the Lewman car, applied his brakes and steered to the northbound lane of California to avoid the Lewman’s
"There is no indica-tion of excessive speed."
— Traffic Lt. Ed Klumpp
car. When the Lewman car didn’t stop, Cheatum steered to the right and tried to hit the back of the car, Huddleston said.

The pickup truck struck the car in the driver’s side door. After the impact, “the Lewman car went very slowly backwards down the hill and into the (west) ditch” a short distance south of the intersection, Huddleston said. The Lewman car came to a halt in the west ditch facing northeast.

After impact, the pickup was moving toward a utility pole on the southwest corner of the intersection. Cheatum scooted away from the driver’s seat to avoid being injured on the steering wheel when it struck the utility pole, Huddleston said. The truck came to a halt facing southwest in the west ditch.

Traffic Lt. Ed Klumpp said, “There is no indication of excessive speed (at this time). According to witnesses’ statements, the damage (to the vehicles) and the skid, there was no speed involved.” The pickup and car collided just east of the center line on California at the north end of the intersection.

After a fatality accident, police examine vehicles for mechanical defects as a matter of standard procedure.

Traffic Sgt. Maurice Koch said the Lewman car, a four-door 1980 Buick Century, was destroyed in the accident. The doors on the left side of the car were shoved into the passengers’ compartment to a point even with the middle of the steering wheel.

Police Said it is unknown whether the Lewman car came to a stop before it entered the intersection. Eastbound traffic on 31st faces a stop sign.

Cheatum wasn’t wearing a seat belt, and Mary Lewman was wearing a seat belt. Police said it was unknown whether Leroy Lewman was wearing a seat belt.

When the accident occurred Wednesday, the Lewmans apparently were driving to Harry’s IGA grocery store, 2075 E. 29th, where they often drank coffee with an informal club to start the day.

Jo Stevenson, a member of the coffee club, said Wednesday that Mary Lewman and her husband had been coming to the coffee club that meets in the grocery store’s delicatessen about two years. The arthritis that Mary Lewman had was a factor in her regular attendance at the coffee club.

“She had told us on occasion that the coffee club was a reason to get up in the morning, to get moving. It was a way to forget the hurting for awhile,” Stevenson said.

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