Three students die in crash
By Randa Anthony
Three of four people killed in a one car accident in Putnam County on Sept. 26 were IVCC students.
Clifford R. (Bob) Anderson, 26, of Standard, Amanda E. Gapinski, 20, of Granville, and Brooke R. Robinson, 18, of Granville were all pronounced dead at the scene.
The driver of the car, Devin E. Parks, 22, of Arlington Heights also died after losing control of the 1994 Ford Mustang he was driving on County Highway 1250 North.
The car bounced from a ditch to the south and turned over several times before coming to rest and then burst into flames.
Anderson, a part-time student, was taking Basic Industrial Electricity on Monday and Wednesday evenings.
Gapinski, a full-time student, was born May 26, 1979, at St. Margaret’s Hospital, Spring Valley. She was a 1997 graduate of Putnam County High School, and was a sophomore this year and planning to transfer next fall. She wrote for the Apache.
Robinson was born Oct. 14, 1980. She was also a full-time student and sophomore, and was a 1998 graduate of Putnam County High School. She was in her third semester at IVCC.
Art instructor Dana Collins, said "She (Gapinski) was a lovely, sweet, vivacious student. She had a wonderful sense of humor and irony."
Student April Biswell said, "Amanda was really funny and outgoing—the type of personality that’s hard to forget."
Collins, who was Robinson’s pottery instructor, said, "Brooke was a good-humored, gentle, kindly person. Really good-natured."
Student Joseph Mead, who knew Robinson from his work in the math learning center, said, "She (Robinson) could always make me laugh. She had a beautiful sense of humor."
English instructor Geoff Schmidt said, "Both losses are going to leave huge holes in my classrooms, and my heart." He continued, "It saddens me beyond words that I won’t see either of them again."
Funeral arrangements were pending at press time.