A Centralia family survived a disaster that was a national news event.
Will Clare and his mother Mendy were on the Amtrak train that crashed 115 miles northeast of Kansas City, early afternoon, Monday, June 27.
Mendy and Will Clare’s love of travel by train is undiminished. Will is shown holding his train scanner, with which he monitors trains.
According to media reports the collision between the Amtrak train and a dump truck resulted in 150 injured and four dead.
It was the last day of their four night trip.
“We were blessed,” Mendy told the Fireside Guard the following Wednesday, “other than a bruise on my arm we were not hurt.”
Will, a 2022 Centralia High School graduate, has a lifelong fascination with trains and their round-trip Amtrak ride from La Plata Missouri to Santa Barbra California was his graduation-Christmas-birthday present, Mendy said.
Bruised arm aside, not only did they come away unscathed, but Will’s enthusiasm for trains is undimmed, Mendy said. “He is already planning our next trip. The train accident did not deter him from trains. He has it planned in his head that we are going to Chicago next year…
For the complete article, see this week’s edition of the Centralia Fireside Guard.
