ACCIDENT KILLS RECOVERING CANCER VICTIM
Rocky Mountain News
Tuesday, May 25, 1993
Author: MICHAEL MEHLE ROCKY MOUNTAIN NEWS STAFF WRITER
An Aurora mother who believed she had just beaten breast cancer was killed Monday when her car was crushed by a front-end loader near her home.
The driver apparently didn't see Cynthia Starbuck , 33, as he ran over her car while backing up with a load of dirt.
Starbuck honked the car's horn, but the driver apparently didn't hear it.
The accident occurred less than a week after Starbuck had completed her last chemotherapy treatment at Aurora Presbyterian Hospital.
She had received four treatments every three weeks since breast cancer was detected in February.
"We were very confident, and the doctor felt very good, that the outcome was going to be positive," said her husband, Kevin Starbuck . "The treatment was a tough experience. But she was a fighter."
Monday, Starbuck was airlifted to Aurora Presbyterian Hospital, where she was pronounced dead. She was deprived of oxygen for 20 minutes, said hospital spokesman Brad Baumann.
Starbuck , a native Coloradan, was an accomplished wood-worker and professional pilot, her husband said. They had been married for eight years after meeting at Riverside Baptist Church.
She was the mother of two boys, ages 6 and 3.
The accident occurred at 1463 S. Argonne Circle, just doors from the Starbuck home. She was returning home with her cousin after buying a vending machine for Awana, a church organization she headed that works with children.
Starbuck 's cousin, 35-year-old Kim Petrie, escaped with a leg gash. She was treated and released from the hospital.
The driver of the front-end loader was taking dirt down the street when he was told it was not needed, Aurora police said.
He then began to back up into Starbuck 's Oldsmobile Ninety-Eight, crushing the car's hood and roof and trapping her inside.
The Aurora Fire Department cut the roof off of the car and used a hydraulic jack to pull it back.
The driver of the front-end loader, Jerry Campbell, works for Brannan Sand and Gravel Co. which was doing road repairs for Aurora. Police did not know late Monday whether Campbell, 42, faces any charges.
LOADER'S WARNING UNHOOKED
Rocky Mountain News
Wednesday, May 26, 1993
Author: ROCKY MOUNTAIN NEWS STAFF
A warning beeper had been disconnected on a front-end loader that drove over a car killing a 33-year-old Aurora woman, police said Tuesday. The beeper is supposed to warn people when a piece of heavy machinery is in reverse. Police on Tuesday turned over to the Aurora District Attorney information from their interview with the driver of the front-end loader, Jerry Campbell, 42, an employee of Brannan Sands and Gravel Co. The driver was backing up with a load of dirt Monday night at 1463 S. Argonne Circle and apparently failed to see Cynthia Starbuck 's Oldsmobile and didn't hear her honking.
Obituary: Cynthia Marie Starbuck
Rocky Mountain News
Tuesday, June 8, 1993
Author: ROCKY MOUNTAIN NEWS OBITUARIES ARE COMPILED BY CLERK MARLENE REZVANI.
* CYNTHIA MARIE STARBUCK , 32, of Aurora died May 24 in Aurora Presbyterian Hospital. Services were May 28 in Mississippi Avenue Baptist Church. Burial was in Crown Hill Cemetery. Mrs. Starbuck was born in Lamar. She was a homemaker and professional airplane pilot. Survivors include her husband, Kevin; two sons, Daniel and Adam; her parents, LaRee and Alan Symons; one brother, JohnieLee Symons; and her grandmothers, Jessie Symons and Mildred Bartrow.