Truck flips multiple times in I-95 crash, injuring staple of Bluffton community

Two members of a family considered to be a pillar of old Bluffton — Alex and Cathie Ulmer — were injured in an accident on Interstate 95 early Wednesday afternoon.

The couple was returning to their Bluffton home from a vacation in the mountains of Tennessee when their truck’s left rear tire blew, said their daughter, Cathy Ulmer.

The truck flipped over multiple times — the Ulmers were in such shock, they were not sure of the number of times it flipped — and landed upright.

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Although Cathie Ulmer, 70, walked away from the crash with only bruises, her husband suffered six fractured ribs on each side, a broken sternum and broken vertebrae. Alex Ulmer, 74, is now in intensive care at Memorial Health University Medical Center in Savannah, his daughter said.

The top of the couple’s Ford F-250 appeared to be flattened, according to Cathy Ulmer, who owns Ulmer Family Pharmacy and Wellness Center along with her sister, Cindy Ulmer.

The Ulmers were headed south near the I-95 mile marker 14, which is where another family crashed into a tree one day later. That accident resulted in a fatality.

The Ulmer family’s connection with Bluffton extends back to the 19th century. They are a major landholder in the Bluffton area, still trying to live a rural life. Sometimes their cows would get out on the fairways on the Old South Golf Links, which was built on family land with Alex and his brother Alan owning 51 percent.

Alex Ulmer is vice chairman of the Palmetto Electric Cooperative board of directors.

For many years, he ran the concession stand at Bluffton high school football games.

Ulmer family members have been known through the years for their accomplished children and for making homemade bread, which was a favorite item sold at the Bluffton United Methodist Church during the Bluffton Village Festival.

This story was originally published July 27, 2018 at 4:13 PM.