By Ari Bloomekatz
Enquirer staff writer

Charlotte Thompson was going to her niece's funeral in Memphis when the Greyhound bus she was riding in crashed in Tennessee. She was one of three people aboard who died.

Thompson, 76, of Roselawn, got on the Dallas-bound bus in Cincinnati Thursday night. The bus, which began its route in Cleveland, had stopped in Louisville and was traveling westbound on Interstate 40 when it collided with a tractor-trailer outside Jackson, Tenn.

Also killed were the driver, Thomas Dickerson, 48, of Memphis; and another female passenger, Willie Walker, about 60, of Detroit. Seventeen other passengers, including Christopher Montine and John Montine, both of Hillsboro, Ohio, went to hospitals with non-life-threatening injuries.

The bus ran into the back of the tractor-trailer about 4:30 a.m., said Beth Denton, a spokeswoman for the Tennessee Department of Safety. Denton said she wasn't sure what caused the crash, which remains under investigation.

One of Thompson's granddaughters, Anisa Crawford of Pleasant Ridge, said her family has discussed suing Greyhound and that she wonders if the bus driver fell asleep at the wheel.

"I was sad, angry, just basically, lost," Crawford said at her mother's home in Mount Auburn Friday night. "When we first heard the news, we just broke down in tears, because she was just here yesterday."

Greyhound spokesperson Kim Plaskett said Greyhound sent representatives to the scene. Buses were also dispatched for passengers.

Thompson had always been afraid of traveling and had never flown, her grandchildren said. Every time Thompson got into a car, Crawford said, her grandmother would immediately put her seat belt on and hold onto the handle above the passenger-side window.

Thompson had 14 children and so many grandchildren and great-grandchildren that her relatives were having a hard time compiling her obituary.

After raising her children, Thompson went back to school and worked as a cook at a nursing home, said one of her daughters, Julia Harmon, who lives on Gilbert Avenue. Even after she retired in 1992, Thompson wanted to continue working and served as a part-time private nurse until she died, Crawford said.

Funeral arraignments will be made Sunday or Monday, Crawford said, adding she was unsure if Greyhound would help pay for Thompson's funeral expenses.

Lynn Brown, a spokeswoman for Greyhound, said company representatives have been in touch with Thompson's family and discussed available benefits.

Greyhound has helped pay for funeral expenses in the past and does so on a case-by-case basis, Brown said.

---

E-mail abloomekatz@enquirer.com