GAIL DICKAMORE
June 8, 1962
Gail C. Dickamore, 18, a Big A Riders drill team member, was fatally injured in a freak accident yesterday morning when her horse lost its footing, fell and rolled over her.
Miss Dickamore and four other teen-age girl riders were stopped outside the home of their drill team leader in Lewiston Orchards when the accident occurred about 7:45. Her horse, a spirited but gentle part-Arabian, shied and fell when a window screen dropped to the ground. Cheryl Edgington, 17, riding double behind Miss Dickamore, was thrown and received a left shoulder fracture.
Miss Dickamore was the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Clair Dickamore, 1903 15th Ave., and had completed her freshman year at Lewis-Clark Normal School. Her father is a partner in Cochrane & Dickamore, a building contracting firm.
Miss Edgington, daughter of Mrs. Alice Dawson, 1817 17th Ave., was in satisfactory condition last night at St. Joseph’s Hospital.
The accident occurred outside the residence of Mr. and Mrs. Austin Walters, 3125 5th St. William Jungert, 19, their son and the drill team leader, was in his bedroom and talking to the girls through the window screen. The girls had ridden a mile from the Big A Riders drill field, between Lewiston Airport and the University of Idaho agricultural experiment station. They went to the Walters residence to awaken Jungert for a drill practice.
The horse moved backward, scrambled down a 1 ½ foot grass terrace slope, reared, then fell and rolled over its back and left side. Miss Dickamore stayed in the saddle. The horse apparently rolled over her left leg and thigh.
She was taken by city ambulance to St. Joseph’s Hospital, where resuscitation attempts failed. Her physician said she may have received a ruptured spleen. No autopsy was ordered by Owen L. Knowlton, county prosecuting attorney.
Sheriff’s Deputy Bill Miller, who investigated the accident, said the following occurred:
Miss Dickamore and Miss Edgington were aboard the horse outside Jungert’s window. Shelly Farthing, 13, 420 Warner Ave., was on a horse to the left. Jackie Sturman, 16, 3721 16th St., and Linda Nelson, 13, 618 Vista Ave., were on horses below the terrace, which was 9 ½ feet from the house.
The girls related they had been “joking”. Miss Dickamore, they said, told Jungert: “If you don’t get out of bed we’ll come in and drag you out.” Jungert, his hand propped on the window sill, waved his arm and joking said, “Get out of here.” The window, Jungert said, was propped up only 4 ¼ inches, and he did not hit the screen. The screen, which the girls said may have been hit by the horse, fell from its two clamps.
The horse then went backward over the terrace.
Miss Dickamore was born Oct. 19, 1943, at Seattle, where she lived until the family moved to Lewiston in 1945. She was graduated from Lewiston High School in 1961. She was a First Presbyterian Church member.
Survivors also include a sister, Mrs. Cynthia Jones of Walla Walla, and her maternal grandparents, Mr. and Mrs. M. J. Curry of Clarkston. The funeral will be Monday at 11 a.m. at Brower-Wann Chapel. Burial will be at Normal Hill Cemetery.