Bus crash tops 2005 news
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BY JEFFREY HAGEjeff.hage@lee.net
Friday, December 30, 2005 10:04 PM CST
On Sunday, Oct. 16 dozens of parents throughout the Chippewa Falls area realized their worst nightmare.
Their children had been returning from a band competition in Whitewater when they passed Osseo shortly after 2 a.m. Moments later there was a horrific crash as their motor-coach slammed into an overturned semi-trailer on Interstate 94.
Band members called home to Chippewa Falls on their cellular telephones telling tales of severe injuries and unbelievable damage to the bus.
But when the dust settled and the mayhem cleared, the true story was far more reaching than anyone could have ever feared.
The charter bus carrying about 55 members of the Chippewa Falls High School marching band collided with the semi truck killing five passengers, including band director Doug Greenhalgh.
The traumatic event set off a week-long pouring of emotion the likes of which Chippewa Falls had never experienced before.
Greenhalgh, 48, his wife Therese, 51, and their 11-year-old granddaughter Morgan Greenhalgh were killed in the crash along with 78-year-old bus driver Paul Rasmus. Also killed was 24-year-old band student teacher from UW-Eau Claire, Branden Atherton, who worked with Chi-Hi's marching band program the past two summers.
Thirty others were injured, with 24 being transported to regional hospitals by ground ambulances. Six people were airlifted to hospitals by helicopter.
Among those hospitalized was Chi-Hi co-band director Brian Collicott, who was seriously injured and is still undergoing a long rehabilitation process from his home. Within hours of the crash local, regional and national media converged on Chippewa Falls High School.
On Tuesday, Oct. 18, hundreds of people turned out to pay their respects to bus driver Paul Rasmus. A night later thousands of people stood in lines at Chi-Hi for nearly three hours to honor the memories of Doug, Therese and Morgan Greenhalgh during a memorial service in the Chi-Hi gymnasium.
As the three-hour visitation wound towards an end, the high school orchestra and concert choirs, dressed all in black, filed into the gymnasium and took their place among the standing-room-only crowd. Orchestra members played a moving tribute to the Greenhalgh family and there wasn't a dry eye in the gym when the concert choir sang a moving rendition of Amazing Grace.
The community said its final good-byes a day later when hundreds of mourners filled Trinity United Methodist Church. A video feed was broadcast at nearby First Presbyterian Church and Chi-Hi to accommodate overflow. It was also shown on cable access.
Two months after the crash, the memory of the Greenhalghs live on.
Doug Greenhalgh's former music students and Chippewa Falls alumni established an endowment fund to ensure the musical legacy of the Greenhalghs. Marching band alumni are also coordinating efforts with the Chippewa Falls school district to establish a scholarship fund for music students through the “Chippewa Falls Area United School District Foundation.”
The top five in ‘05
The top five stories of 2005 as selected by the staff of the Chippewa Herald:
1) An October crash kills five aboard a bus carrying the Chippewa Falls Marching Band.
2) A Highway 29 bypass opens, and Chippewa Falls businesses report a drop in their business.
3) A fire in January kills dozens of dogs and cats at the Chippewa County Humane Association shelter.
4) Troubled Lakeside Health is saved with a sale to the operators of the Rutledge Home.
5) Chippewa Falls hires a city administrator after weathering a lawsuit and a recall election.
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