Elvin Leo Troxler died after helping to save Summer L. Troxler from drowning, Ellerbe, North Carolina, January 4, 2005. Summer, 11 months old, was in the back seat of a sport utility vehicle that, from a parked position, rolled down a steep lawn and entered a pond. In the darkness, the vehicle began to sink in water about 10 feet deep at a point about 40 feet from the bank. Summer’s grandfather, Troxler, 67, retired supervisor, lived at the scene. Alerted to the situation, he ran down to the pond, entered the water, and swam out to the driver’s side of the vehicle, joining Summer’s mother, who also had swum out. Unable to open the doors on that side of the vehicle, Summer’s mother moved to the passenger side and Troxler hoisted himself partially onto the vehicle, thereby tilting its passenger side up. Summer’s mother then opened the rear passenger-side door and removed Summer from the vehicle. As other relatives who responded took Summer and her mother back to the bank, Troxler was seen floating face down near the vehicle. He too was removed to the bank, where resuscitation was attempted. Troxler was taken to the hospital, where he died five days later. Summer and her mother were also hospitalized, overnight, for effects of taking in water, and they recovered.
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78240-8930Obituary
Elvin Leo Troxler, 67, of Ellerbe, N.C., died on Jan. 9, 2005, at First Health Moore Regional Hospital in Pinehurst, N.C.. He was born on March 18, 1937, in Richmond County, N.C., a son of Harvey Troxler and Ada Lillian Mabe Voorhies.
He was a charter member of Pleasant Hill Baptist Church, a graduate of Ellerbe High School, class of 1955, and had retired from Burlington Industries as a supervisor.
(Edited from the Richmond County Daily Journal, Jan. 10, 2005.)