Family, friends mourn death of women killed in I-79 accident

PITTSBURGH — Family and friends continue to mourn the deaths of two Ohio Township women who were killed Friday in a car crash near the Crawford County line.

State troopers said 62-year-old Robert Neubert, of Amherst, N.Y., lost control of his southbound vehicle for unknown reasons and crossed the Interstate 79 median just before 6 p.m.

Investigators said his car traveled several hundred feet on the highway and then veered into a car being driven northbound by 54-year-old Susan Thomas.

Thomas, who was a certified school nurse at the Western Pennsylvania School for Blind Children, and passenger Mary Grace Carmody were pulled from their overturned car and died at the scene, state police said. Neubert died in a nearby hospital.

Thomas was traveling to visit a daughter who attended Edinboro University. Carmody went along for the trip as a friend, family members said.

“Susan was beloved by so many people,” said Dan Ruoff, 54, her cousin from Jeannette. “She always had a smile on her face.”

Carmody, 44, of Sewickley, was the manager of Sunny Jim's Tavern along Camp Horne Road in Kilbuck.

The restaurant said it will be holding a fundraiser in tribute of the women.

“We’re coping. It’s not easy because she was a fantastic person,” owner Mike Stachel said.

Sunny Jim’s bartender Sarah Outly said Carmody once gave her the shirt off her back, a Pirates shirt, so Outly could wear it to a game.

“She was beautiful. She always put others before herself. She was a networker and a half. She knew people for miles and miles and miles, and was loved by every single one of them,” Outly said.

Children at the Western Pennsylvania School for Blind Children decorated a room in honor on Thomas on Friday.

Because Thomas loved the ocean, her colleagues at the school dressed in beach attire on Monday.

"She was an awesome friend and an awesome person to work with. She was a wonderful nurse," para-educator Stephanie Felton said.

Channel 11’s news exchange partners at TribLIVE contributed to this report.

WPXI