Debra Smolek ¹

  General Notes:

Source: nwitimes.com on Tuesday, December 26, 1995 12:00 AM CST

Christmas Eve accident claims life, injures 7.
By Times Staff Report

BOONE TOWNSHIP - Porter County Sheriff's Police are investigating a fatal Christmas Eve accident that took the life of a rural Medaryville woman and seriously injured seven others. Debbie L. Pouch, 29, was killed Sunday evening in a three-car collision on Indiana 8, just west of County Road 500 West, between Hebron and Kouts. Pouch's five passengers, four of them children, suffered serious or critical injuries.

According to a police report, Pouch was driving a 1985 Ford westbound on Indiana 8. The driver of the second car, Wayne Skidmore, 24, of Knox, was eastbound on Indiana 8 in a 1993 GMC pickup truck. The two vehicles collided, and then Pouch's car was struck by an eastbound 1985 Ford driven by Harmon Ealy, 24. Weather was a contributing factor, according to police.

Skidmore remained in the intensive care unit at Porter Memorial Hospital on Monday in critical but stable condition. His passenger, Kenny Skidmore, 20, was in serious but stable condition at the hospital. Ealy's condition was unknown, and no hometown or address was available for him.

Also injured in the accident were Medaryville residents:
* Michael Pouch, 31, serious but stable condition.
* Christopher Pouch, 5, critical, but stable condition.
* Cheryl Lightfoot, 13, critical but stable condition.
* Billy Lightfoot, 11, serious, but stable condition.
* Michael Pouch Jr., 6, critical, but stable condition.
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Source: NWTimes.com on Monday, January 8, 1996 12:00 AM CST

Family copes with loss.
By JOYCE RUSSELL

A fund raiser to benefit the Pouch family will be held at 6 PM, Monday, Jan. 29, at Savoy Supper Club in the Portage Mall. Entertainment will be Eileene and the Hitmen. Tickets are $15 per person and are available at the Portage Journal Press, Fountainview Place Nursing Home and First Source Bank. An account to aid the family has been established at First Source Bank.

PORTAGE -- Sherry Sullivan is coping the best way she can. The Portage woman has no choice. Sullivan's daughter, Debbie Pouch, 29, was killed in a head-on automobile crash on Christmas Eve. Sullivan's four grandchildren and son-in-law were seriously injured in the accident. This past week, her family began to come home to Sullivan's house to recuperate, physically and emotionally.

"They seem to be doing OK," Sullivan said about her grandchildren. "Cheryl talks about her mom. They were very, very close. We just let her talk about it. Billy is like any other 10-year-old kid. But we have to be very careful that he has no excess physical activity because he could be paralyzed from the waist down. Christopher, he's doing good. He laughs and smiles. The two oldest are anxious to go back to school," Sullivan said.

Her son-in-law, Michael Pouch Sr., 31, has been released from the hospital, but is in a cast and will require continued treatment. Granddaughter Cheryl Lightfoot, 13, had to have her spleen removed because of injuries and is facing plastic surgery. Grandson Billy Lightfoot, 10, has two broken vertebrae and wears a back brace. Grandson Christopher Pouch, 5, suffered a skull fracture. Grandson Michael Pouch II, 6, was the last to be released from the hospital. He, said Sullivan, will come home in a body cast stretching from just beneath his breast to the toes on his right leg and the knee on his left leg.

The family, who lives in Medaryville, was on their way to Debbie Pouch's father's home in Leroy for a Christmas Eve celebration when the accident occurred on Indiana 2 just outside of Hebron.

"They were going to have Christmas at their house. The food is still in the refrigerator. That has to be cleaned out," Sullivan said of the many tasks ahead of her.

"Mike wanted to let the kids have Christmas and when I went to get Debbie 's clothes for the funeral, I saw she had everything wrapped. We had Christmas on Monday," Sullivan said. "But, it's not going to be a happy Christmas anymore."

Her daughter, who attended school in Crown Point and Hobart Township, received her high school equivalency diploma and then graduated with an associate's degree from Sawyer Business College, was buried Dec. 30. The family had lived in Portage for four years before moving to Medaryville. Sullivan, who is on emergency leave from her job as an executive secretary at Prism in Joliet, Ill., is spending her days taking family members to various doctor's appointments. The family's efforts to cope with their grief and recuperation are compounded my financial concerns.

"I don't know if the insurance is going to cover everything. He doesn't think so," Sullivan said, referring to her son-in-law, a carpenter. The family had some insurance on Michael Pouch and the children through the carpenter's union and are attempting to utilize their automobile insurance to cover expenses involving Debbie Pouch's injuries and funeral. A fund raiser to aid the family will be held Jan. 29 in Portage at the Savoy Supper Club.

Once everyone is out of the hospital and on the mend, said Sullivan, the family, including herself, will be moving back into the Pouch's home in Medaryville. "I'm going to move in with them to take care of the kids. They don't have anyone else," she said.
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Source: NWTimes.com on Tuesday, January 30, 1996 12:00 AM CST

Dinner helps family cope.
By JOYCE RUSSELL

PORTAGE - Family, friends and complete strangers of Debbie Pouch came to the aid of her family Monday night. The 29-year-old mother of four was killed in a tragic Christmas Eve accident on Ind. 8 near Hebron. At the Savoy Supper Club, nearly 100 people turned out to help raise money for the family. The accident also left Pouch's husband and four children hospitalized. Her husband, Michael Pouch Sr., 31, still on crutches from injuries suffered in the accident, brought the children to the event.

"It's hard on all of us," he said about the aftermath of the crash. "Mikey, his femur is not going to grow, so he will have to get an extension." Michael Pouch Jr., 7, is the only one of the four youngsters not back in school. The others, Cheryl Lightfoot, 13; Billy Lightfoot, 10 and Christopher Pouch, 5, have returned to classes, said their step-grandmother, Carla Smolek of Leroy.

The family was on the way to Smolek's home for a family celebration when the accident happened. The money from this fund-raiser and others held in the family's name will help to defray medical costs, said Smolek. A breakfast fund-raiser will be held from 7 a.m. to noon Saturday at the Medaryville Lions Club. Accounts have been established for the family at First Source Bank in Portage and at Indiana Federal Bank for Savings.

"The bills haven't even started to be tallied yet," said Smolek, adding that while the family had some insurance, it probably won't be enough to cover all expenses. "They all miss her, but it hasn't hit them yet," added Debbie Pouch's stepsister Colette Smoke of Leroy.

Russell Rollins didn't know the family. But the Hebron police officer said the accident scene he witnessed "really affected" him, enough to drive across the county on a cold winter night to help the family.

Mary Pittman of Portage never met the family, either. "They had a fund-raiser here for my daughter last July, so we are returning the favor," she said sitting at a table with friends. Her daughter, Julie Pittman Sells of Portage, was injured in a May motorcycle accident which left that young woman a quadriplegic.

Portage businessman Pete Costello organized the fund-raiser. It is the 10th such event he has organized for families in need. In addition to the $15 admission, which included dinner, raffles and drawings were held to help the family. From each ticket, $10 was donated to the family's fund.

"Remember, when you are doing this," Costello told them about the fund-raiser, "you are helping a family, a family that needs help."
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