Hardeeville Elementary School employee from Ridgeland killed in I-95 wreck
A much-loved face was missing Wednesday from under the green and orange striped awnings of Hardeeville Elementary School's cafeteria.
Sharon Toomer, a longtime cafeteria worker and graduate of Jasper County schools, was killed in a car wreck on her way to the school about 5:35 a.m., after she lost control of her 2001 Toyota Camry on southbound I-95 and struck a tree.
Toomer, 52, died at the scene of the wreck, at the 15 mile marker, according to Jasper County Coroner Martin Sauls III.
The crash remains under investigation by the S.C. Highway Patrol.
Toomer ran the cash register at the elementary school and worked for Jasper County School District for more than 10 years, her supervisor Priscilla Dopson said Wednesday.
Hardeeville Elementary Principal Wanda Bostick said Toomer was a Ridgeland native.
Her coworkers began to worry early Wednesday when she was not at school to greet students or help serve the kids cinnamon buns and fruit for breakfast, Dopson said. They later learned of the fatal wreck.
"She was a very good person," Dopson said. Dopson tried calling Toomer but never got an answer.
"We knew this morning that something was not right because Sharon does not miss work."
The rest of the school's cafeteria crew worked through their pain after hearing the news. When students came for lunch, the staff served up vegetable soup, grilled cheese sandwiches and the smiles kids have come to expect from employees like Toomer.
"She loved to laugh and joke, and she knew so many of our students by name," said Wanda Bostick, principal of Hardeeville Elementary School. "Her smile brightened up the cafeteria and our school."
"She was a hard worker," Dopson said. "She came to work and did what she was supposed to do."
Counselors were at the school Wednesday to help students and staff during their grieving.
Toomer is one of 17 people to die on the 35-mile stretch of that road from tree-related crashes during the past six years.
The death of 75-year-old James Eddins may be added to the number of fatalities after his body was found in the median on northbound I-95 near mile marker 13 on Sept. 14.
At the time, Sauls said though Eddins' tractor trailer hit several trees, it appeared his death was caused by a medical condition.
Sauls could not be reached Wednesday to confirm whether Eddins' death falls under the roadway's number of fatalities.
Related Content:
March 1-2, 2015 Only 35 miles of Interstate 95 run through Jasper County. But the short stretch is deadly -- because of trees. More motorists are dying in tree-related wrecks along this main artery to Hilton Head Island than anywhere else along I-95 in South Carolina. And nothing is being done to reverse the deadly trend. Our two-day series explores the emotional and financial costs of the wrecks and why fixing it is harder than you'd think. | READ
- Tree-cutting plans for I-95's deadly Jasper County section gain traction, August 27, 2015
- Driver identified in deadly I-95 wreck in Hardeeville, September 14, 2015
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This story was originally published February 3, 2016 at 8:42 AM with the headline "Hardeeville Elementary School employee from Ridgeland killed in I-95 wreck."