GLENDORA — Shirley Taylor Thomas, 55, an at-large alderwoman on the Glendora Board of Aldermen and the wife of Glendora Mayor Johnny B. Thomas, died Sunday night of injuries sustained when a large oak tree fell onto the couple's wood-frame home here.
Tallahatchie County Coroner Ginger Meriwether described the incident as "weather related," since the county was under a severe thunderstorm warning and high winds were pushing through the Glendora area at the time.
Meriwether noted that the tree fell onto the house, located at 19 Williams Avenue, at about 6:20 p.m.
She said first responders and community residents worked feverishly to cut up the tree and free Mrs. Thomas from the rubble.
The coroner said Mrs. Thomas was placed into an ambulance and was being transported to the hospital in Clarksdale when paramedics determined that she had no pulse.
Meriwether said she was notified to meet the ambulance in the parking lot at West Tallahatchie High School, where she pronounced Mrs. Thomas dead at 7:40 p.m.
She ruled the cause of death as "multiple trauma."
Meriwether said Clark-Williams Funeral Home of Grenada will be in charge of arrangements for Mrs. Thomas, who was a longtime radio dispatcher for the Tallahatchie County Sheriff's Office.
IN THE PHOTO: The home of Johnny and Shirley Thomas is pictured after a tree fell onto it. (Photo by Richard Gipson)
