Gary Alan Slaton

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Gary Alan Slaton Dies of Injuries

Gary Alan Slaton, 21, of Rosewood Heights, (Illinois) formerly of Worden (Illinois) died Wednesday (August 7, 1968) in Wood River (Illinois) Township Hospital, from injuries suffered earlier that day in a three-car accident near Mitchel.

Mr. Slaton, a salesman at Beyers Motor Company, of St. Louis, was a student at Southern Illinois University, Edwardsville campus. He has resided in Rosewood Heights for the past three and one-half years.

Born in Madisonville, Kentucky, he graduated from Roxana (Illinois) High School in 1965. He was a member of New Hope Baptist Church in Worden, IL.

Mr. Slaton had served six months with the Air National Guard and returned this past weekend after two weeks training in summer camp in Wisconsin.

He is survived by his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Connie L. Slaton, and three brothers, Dwight, Lee and Dale, all of Rosewood Heights, IL. His maternal grandfather, Duard B. Ward, of South Roxana, (Illinois) and his maternal grandmother, Mrs. Kenneth Harpole, of Golconda, (Illinois) and other relatives also survive.

Funeral services were held at the Marks Mortuary at 10 A.M. today, Rev. William Robertson, pastor of the New Hope Baptist Church, Worden, Il., officiating.

Also The Rev. Howard Todd Taylor, of Calvary Baptist Church, Alton.

State police said Gary Slaton, 21, was killed when the car he was driving collided head on with a car driven by Edwin E Sanders 20 of East St Louis.

Gary was born premature. There was no incubator at the hospital in Morton's Gap, Kentucky, so they took him to Evansville. When they brought him home, he was still so small they kept him in a shoebox near the wood stove in the kitchen.

Gary had a girlfriend in Staunton (town maybe 20 miles away) and rode his motorcycle to go see her. He had a Harley-Davidson Sprint, and it was one of the hardest cycles to get started.