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Neighbor Recalls Animal Lover Who Died Checking On Owl
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Published: June 9, 2008
LITHIA - A motorist killed Sunday while trying to check on the condition of an owl she had hit was an animal lover who "died doing what she loved doing," a neighbor said.
Jean Hagen Pearce of 4016 Porter Road "has always been an animal person," especially birds, said Mark J. Cook, who lives a short distance from her.
Pearce, who would have turned 69 on Friday, stopped her 2005 Hyundai about 9:30 p.m. Sunday after she struck an owl on Nichols Road east of Keysville Road, the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office said. She was checking on the condition of the injured bird when she was hit by a 2003 Ford Explorer driven by Elizabeth Louise Gray, 19, of Lithia, deputies reported. The impact sent the victim into the hood of a 2002 Honda van driven by Robert D. Shepherd, 61, of Waynesboro, Va., who stopped at the scene.
Pearce died at the scene of the accident, deputies said.
Cook, a freelance writer who has written for The Tampa Tribune and the Plant City Courier & Tribune, said Pearce was a kind person was "always trying to help others."
The sheriff's office said Pearce's husband, Clarence, was a passenger in the car when she was killed.
Cook said he had known Pearce since his childhood. He said she moved to rural east Hillsborough in the early- to mid-1970s from the state of Washington.
"Most people would have kept going" if they hit a bird and complained about scratching the car but she was the kind to worry about the welfare of the owl, Cook said.
The bird was taken to Florida Veterinary Services in Brandon with a broken wing and other injuries.
Reporter Dave Nicholson can be reached at (813) 865-4432 or dnicholson@tampatrib.com.
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