Courtney Thomasson
, 28

Family Remembers Their Courtney

Jennifer Courtney Thomasson, 28, is an innocent bystander of a police pursuit crash. She passed away as a result of the injuries from the crash on Thursday, January 9, 2014. She was born on June 4, 1985 to Lane C. and Teresa Estes Thomas-son. Courtney was a full-time student in the healthcare field following her calling of taking care of others. She lived a vibrant life and surrounded herself with people she loved. Courtney had a spirit about her that was kind, loving and giving to others in need. She enjoyed living life to the fullest but most of all she loved her family and the Lord. She is preceded in death by an uncle, John Frank Thomasson.

Left to cherish her memory are her parents, Lane C. and Teresa Estep Thomasson of Bassett; husband, Christopher Holmes of Ridgeway; sister, Jessica Ashleigh Thomasson of the home; paternal grandparents, Delano and Gaenell Thomasson; maternal grandparents, Norma and Richard Estep; maternal great-grandmother, Delia Martin; aunts, Amy Thomasson, Melinda Daubin, and Jennifer Draper; God-daughter, Emma Epperley; and a host of extended family and friends.

 

News Stories

Father: Pursuit victim was devoted to others

Courtney Thomasson died in Thursday crash

 
Jan 12, 2014

Ridgeway, VA—Jennifer "Courtney" Thomasson was one of those people who tried to take care of everyone else.

“She was a loving person. That’s what her whole life was — checking on everybody,” said her father, Lane Thomasson of Bassett, on Saturday.

Courtney Thomasson, 28, was returning home from doing just that on Thursday night when she was involved in a head-on collision on U.S. 220 in Ridgeway. She was pronounced dead at the scene, according to the Virginia State Police.

Courtney gets her driver's licenseEarlier that afternoon, Thomasson had dropped her father off at his job at ICF Corp. in the Patriot Centre at 4 p.m. She then visited her grandmother, Norma Jean Estep, at Stanleytown Health Care, and after it closed at 8 p.m. she went to check on her infant goddaughter, Emma Elizabeth Epperly, whom she helped take care of, in the Grassy Creek area of Henry County, her father said.

That was a common routine for Thomasson, so it was not unusual for her to be on the road at 10 at night headed to her grandmother’s home on Church Street in Ridgeway, Lane Thomasson said. She was living in the home and caring for it while Estep is in the nursing home, he added.

Lane Thomasson said he had taught his children to avoid driving in busy intersections if possible, since accidents can occur if people run the lights. So Courtney did not turn at the light on U.S. 220 South at Virginia 87 and instead was headed for the turn lane for Church Street in Ridgeway when the accident occurred.

Officers told the family that if she had traveled 400 more yards, she would have been in that turn lane and avoided the accident, Lane Thomasson said.

Instead, her 2008 Dodge Caliber collided head-on with a 1995 Ford F-150 pickup. She was traveling south in the southbound on U.S. 220; the pickup was headed north in the southbound lane, according to the state police.

The pickup caught fire, the state police said at the time. The driver’s identity has not been released.

“It’s terrible when someone gets taken like that,” Lane Thomasson said of his daughter’s death.

Courtney Thomasson, who also is the daughter of Teresa Thomasson and the wife of Christopher Dale Holmes, went through the Certified Nursing Assistant (CNA) training at Patrick Henry Community College, her father said.

She did an internship at Stanleytown Health Care under that program and had hoped to continue her studies at Old Dominion University, through the New College Institute, to pursue a career in social work.

She also previously worked at Bojangles in Bassett and Taco Bell in Collinsville.

But as soon as her CNA training was completed, her grandmother became ill and Courtney Thomasson became her full-time caregiver for the last 30 months, her father said.

“She attended Freedom Baptist Church and believed her purpose in life was to help those less fortunate and protect children and the elderly and lived her life by James 1:27,” he added.

That scripture states: “Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world,” according to online sources.

Courtney Thomasson shared her concern for others with her uncle, John Frank Thomasson, who died Dec. 23, Lane Thomasson said.

“People who put everyone else ahead of themselves seem to be taken from us,” he added.

—Story may be found at this link: Martinsville Bulletin

 

2 die in head-on collision on U.S. 220

in Henry County

A North Carolina deputy sheriff was pursuing one of the vehicles when it hit the other in Ridgeway.

Jan 10, 2014

Two people died in a head-on collision in Henry County on Thursday night as a North Carolina deputy ended his chase of one of the drivers.

The crash happened a little after 10 p.m. on U.S. 220, about a quarter-mile south of Virginia 87 (Morehead Avenue) in Ridgeway, said Virginia State Police 1st Sgt. E.D. Malone.

Malone said a 1995 Ford F-150 pickup struck a 2008 Dodge Caliber after traveling north in the southbound lanes for some period of time. The pickup caught fire after the impact.

The driver of the Dodge, Jennifer Courtney Thomasson, 28, of Ridgeway, was wearing a seat belt but died at the scene, said state police spokesman Sgt. Rob Carpentieri.

The driver of the Ford was not wearing a seat belt and died at the scene after being partially ejected from the truck, Carpentieri said. Malone said the man’s body was taken to the medical examiner’s office in Roanoke to be positively identified.

The Ford had sped past Rockingham County, N.C., sheriff’s Deputy J. Richardson roughly 20 minutes before the collision when the deputy noticed the “suspicious vehicle” in Stoneville, N.C., said Rockingham County Sheriff’s Office spokesman Deputy Kevin Suthard. The truck raced away from Richardson “at high rates of speeds” until it entered Virginia, Suthard said.

Richardson came across the Ford again some time later back in North Carolina and tried to stop the truck, Suthard said, but the Ford sped away once more.

Richardson estimated the Ford traveled above 90 mph, Suthard said, though he noted that Rockingham County deputies don’t have radar.

“Due to the fleeing driver’s blatant disregard for public safety, approval was given for Deputy Richardson to continue the pursuit into Virginia,” he said.

Suthard said Richardson remained in a northbound lane of U.S. 220 attempting to keep the vehicle in sight with the hopes that a Virginia state trooper could take over the chase.

—Story may be found at this link: The Roanoke Times

 

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