Fifty years ago, on July 1, 1974, I lost one of my childhood friends, the victim of a single-car accident on Smith River Road in Bristol. I had known Ralph Irving since I was five, but that previous Saturday night, Ralph was a passenger in John Eastwood’s car when John failed to negotiate the steep curve near the Sterner residence. The car went down the bank and struck a tree, then a second tree, instantly killing Glenn Waring, who sustained a broken neck and fractured skull. Ralph sustained both internal and external injuries and died two days later at Mary Hitchcock Memorial Hospital in Hanover. Eastwood came out of the crash with chest injuries and a broken leg, and another passenger, Kenneth Dearborn, received a laceration on the side of his head. Ken was able to climb back up the bank and made his way to the Chet Walker Sr. farm summon help.
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