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CHELSEA DUNCAN, cduncan@newsreview.info
October 9, 2007

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Note: This story has been updated, Oct. 9, 2:45 p.m. The original stories can be found below

GLIDE — A Glide woman who gained national recognition as a teenager by rescuing a young boy from the North Umpqua River died Monday evening in a car crash on Little River Road.

Jennifer Page, 37, was driving a 1999 Toyota Solara north on the 5600 block of the road when she lost control around 5 p.m., said Sgt. David Marshall of the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office.

The car crossed the other lane and hit the gravel shoulder before striking a fence, then a tree.

A deputy at the scene said he found no skid marks in the roadway and guessed Page had swerved to avoid hitting something.

“We don’t know what actually caused it,” Marshall said. The county’s deputy medical examiner will continue the investigation, he added.

Shortly after the crash, Glide resident Shannon Weniger pulled up to the scene. She said she tried for several minutes to open the doors, but couldn’t.

Finally, a young couple who had also stopped helped Weniger enter the car through a back window. She tried to perform first aid, but said the woman was too badly injured.

“I wish I could have done more,” Weniger said.

Weniger told deputies that it appeared Page had not been wearing a seat belt. Members of the Glide Rural Fire Department responded and pronounced Page dead at the scene.

Page, a 1989 Glide High School graduate, was well-known throughout the community.

In 1983, at the age of 13, she rescued a 5-year-old boy who’d fallen into the river just above The Narrows, according to a past News-Review article.

The teenager, born with spina bifida, gained local and national attention and ultimately was invited to meet President Ronald Reagan in Washington D.C.

Retired Glide High teacher Thales Smith remembers the event.

“She reacted to it with modesty,” Smith said this morning. “(She) just seemed like, what’s the big deal, that’s what anybody would do.”

Smith said although many years have passed, he holds fond memories of Page, whose maiden name was Boatman until she married Tony Page.

“She had an unforgettable warm smile,” he said, “and a kind manner that made her truly unforgettable.”



• You can reach reporter Chelsea Duncan at 957-4246 or by e-mail at cduncan@newsreview.info.

 

LITTLE RIVER: The Douglas County Sheriff’s Office has identified the victim of Monday’s fatal crash on Little River Road as 37-year-old Jennifer Page.

Page, a Glide area resident, was driving a Toyota Camry Solara north on the 5600 block when she crashed for an unknown reason around 5 p.m., according to the sheriff’s office.

Emergency personnel with the Glide Rural Fire District pronounced Page dead when they arrived.

The cause of the crash is under investigation, though a deputy said there were no skid marks in the road indicating Page was driving at excessive speeds. He said it appears she may have swerved to avoid hitting something in the road.

The car left its lane and hit the shoulder on the other side of the road before crashing into a fence and then a tree.

 

LITTLE RIVER - A 37-year-old woman from the Glide area died this evening in a
single-vehicle crash on Little River Road, officials said.

The woman was apparently driving the red two-door Toyota west when she
crashed on the 5600 block, said Deputy Chris Poe with the Douglas County
Sheriff's Office.

Emergency personnel with the Glide Rural Fire District pronounced the woman
dead when they arrived.

The cause of the crash is under investigation, though Poe said there were no
skid marks in the road indicating the woman was driving at excessive speeds.

He said it appears she may have swerved to avoid hitting something in the
road.

The car left its lane and hit the shoulder on the other side of the road
before crashing into a fence and then a tree.

The woman's identity has not been released.

See Tuesday's News-Review for more details.

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