Sad news: Springfield City Library employee Gayle Ball killed by car while crossing State Street
Serially Yours
This is part of a longer article (available only to subscribers) published in the Springfield Republican today:
A Springfield City Library employee died Wednesday night after she was struck by a car on State Street as she crossed to the employee parking lot.
Gayle Ball, 56, a library supervisor of technical services and collections, suffered critical injuries in the 6 p.m. crash and was pronounced dead at Baystate Medical Center.
The driver who hit her stayed at the scene and cooperated with police. The crash remains under investigation, and there have been no charges or citations issued. Ball was not in a crosswalk.
Authorities have not publicly released Ball’s identity, but it was confirmed to The Republican by co-workers and officials in law enforcement.
Her husband, George Miller, also confirmed her death in Facebook post Wednesday night. The couple, married in May of last year during the pandemic, were scheduled to renew their vows on Saturday before a large group of invited guests at the Magic Wings Butterfly Conservatory in Deerfield.
“The unfairness of this tragedy is frankly unspeakable in that context,” Miller wrote.
Ball’s death is the fifth traffic fatality in Springfield since Nov. 1.
The stretch of road in front of the Central Library at 220 State St. has been considered dangerous for some time because of pedestrians cutting across the four lanes of traffic on a road where drivers routinely exceed the speed limit.
A 7-year-old girl was killed and her mother and sister were injured at the same spot one evening in 2014. The driver later pleaded guilty to drunken driving and other charges and was sentenced to four years in jail.
Betsy Johnson, president of the Armory-Quadrangle Civic Association, said the problem on State Street begins with the drivers.
“State Street is crazy,” she said. “It’s a residential street and it is used as speedway — and the city is not doing anything about it.”
The road is posted for 30 mph, but drivers routinely drive faster than that, she said. She noted that three pedestrians have been killed on different parts of State Street since September.
A man walking his bicycle was struck near 600 State St. just after noon on Nov. 2, and the driver is charged with vehicular homicide and unlicensed operation. And just before midnight on Sept. 4, a man was struck by two cars near 400 State St. The driver of the second car fled and is sought by police.
There had been a crosswalk between the library and the lot from the 1970s through the 1990s, but it was removed after several incidents of pedestrians being hit by cars.
Sent: Thursday, November 11, 2021 12:45 PM
To: Library Staff
Subject: Re: LIBRARY STAFF: Sad news
We are writing with broken hearts.
We learned this morning that one of our colleagues and co-workers, Gayle Ball, tragically died Wednesday evening, as the result of a car accident on State Street.
Gayle worked with us for more than 20 years in our Technical Services Department as the supervisor and was a cataloger extraordinaire. She was funny, and happy, and a big fan of baseball and going to conferences. She and her husband were set to renew wedding vows this weekend, since their wedding ceremony had to be held privately last year at the height of the pandemic shutdown.
We are gathering resources to support us during this very sad time. In the meantime, you may want to contact EAP, an employee assistance program that is a free benefit for all library staff. You can use the website, or dial 800-252-4555.
Molly & Jean
jca...@springfieldlibrary.org