Our biological father, Danny Lee Jolliff (1942-1984) was the second child born to William Montgomery Jolliff (1916-1981) and Rosemary Richardson Jolliff (1924-2007). Danny had an older sister, Linda Lou Jolliff (1940-1950), and a younger brother, Garry Dean Jolliff (1944-2002).

All three of the Jolliff children experienced tragedies. Linda and Danny each sustained fatal injuries, whereas Garry endured a lengthy journey of paralysis beginning with wounds sustained while serving in Vietnam.

Elwood, Indiana; June 5, 1950

Ten-year-old Linda stepped outside the general store on 22nd Street, carrying a newly purchased coloring book and a box of crayons that she would be taking to a friend‘s birthday party. She grabbed her bicycle and began walking across the railroad tracks next to the general store. As she stepped onto the first rail, her foot slipped and became wedged between two close wooden ties.

Several boys and the storekeeper heard screaming and ran to the window. One of the boys was Darrell McQuitty, a future Indiana All-Star basketball player and coach/educator with Elwood city schools. The bystanders immediately heard the blaring whistle of an oncoming train. It was too late for any of them to react. They witnessed the young girl looking up at the oncoming locomotive, shaking her head and mouthing the word, “no.“

My siblings and I heard the accounts of Linda’s tragic death when we were younger. The past thirty years, or so, we’ve seldom mentioned this episode. However, yesterday afternoon, my sister and I began discussing Linda through lengthy text messages. I checked on the website, “Find A Grave,” to see if there was any further information on her.

To my astonishment, my sister and I were discussing Linda on what would’ve been her 85th birthday – May 22, 2025.