Mary E. Townsend saved Tammy Lynn Jackson from being killed by an automobile, Detroit, Michigan, April 21, 1965. When she saw Tammy Lynn, 3, step off the curb between two automobiles parked on a street on which another vehicle was approaching at 25 m.p.h., Mrs. Townsend, 34, housewife, shouted a warning from the opposite side of the street. Tammy Lynn paid no heed and walked from between the automobiles into the path of the oncoming vehicle, which then was within 200 feet of her. Mrs. Townsend ran toward Tammy Lynn, moving into the path of the approaching automobile. The driver applied his brakes 50 feet from Tammy Lynn. Mrs. Townsend reached Tammy Lynn, took hold of her, and started to turn. As it skidded to a stop, the automobile struck Mrs. Townsend, who was between it and Tammy Lynn. The impact threw both into the air, and they fell to the concrete pavement. Tammy Lynn sustained a fractured rib. Mrs. Townsend, whose injuries included a broken leg and a broken arm, was hospitalized for a month.
48007 – 4970
48007-4970Obituary
Mary Elizabeth Townsend, of Detroit, Mich., died on June 28, 1996. She was born to Casey and Rosie Carruthers on Nov. 3, 1930, in Oxford, Miss.
She was educated in the Mississippi public school system.
Townsend was named a Carnegie Hero in November 1965, seven months after she saved Tammy Lynn Jackson from being killed by a vehicle on a Detroit street.
(Edited from information provided by the family.)