Livingston couple dies in Montgomery County car crash
Polk County Enterprise, September 2007

PATTON VILLAGE — A 77-year-old woman and her 80-year-old husband were killed Wednesday afternoon after she lost control of her pickup truck, hit a retaining wall on U.S. 59, about a half-mile north of Texas 242 and struck a second vehicle, reports published in the Conroe Courier show.

Susileigh Chambers Hortin, of Livingston, was pronounced dead at 1:45 p.m. by Montgomery County Precinct 4 Justice of the Peace James Metts. Her husband, Frank Hortin, was taken by ambulance to Kingwood Medical Center, according to Texas Department of Public Safety Cpl. Al Eason. He was later transferred to Memorial Hermann Hospital in Houston where he died at 8:51 p.m.

Mr. Hortin did not have any visible injuries at the time of the accident and an autopsy has been ordered to determine the cause of his death, Eason said.

The driver of the other vehicle, 68-year-old Jeanne Nix, of Longview, was not injured, he said.

“The silver Accord was traveling southbound on Highway 59 in the right lane, and the white truck (driven by Hortin) was northbound on Highway 59,” Eason said, “when the pickup struck the concrete retaining wall, bounced off, and crossed the median into oncoming traffic.”

The rear quarter panel of Hortin’s truck was struck by Nix’s car, which caused it to spin. It hit the southbound retaining wall and bounced up, with the passenger area resting on top of the wall, Eason said.

Susileigh Hortin was dead when medics arrived, according to Eason. The DPS reports show she was not wearing a seatbelt, but Frank Hortin was at the time of the accident.

The accident remains under investigation, with no explanation as to why Hortin first lost control of the pickup.

Metts had Metcalf Funeral Directors transport Susileigh Hortin to the Southeast Texas Medical Center, in Conroe for an autopsy.