Irvine Woman Dies in 2nd Pilup

Patricia Coon was just about to realize her dream of a retirement filled with leisurely road trips to visit grandchildren. That’s the especially cruel thing about accidents, how they cut short visions and plans people make as they drive along.

She and her husband had just purchased a brand-new Jeep Cherokee and a motor home for their travels. They were beginning to map out their first trip, which would take them from Irvine to family in Oregon and Utah.

She was on her way to have a tow bar installed on the Jeep when a big-rig truck careened off the freeway’s concrete median and directly into Coon’s path. The truck’s trailer landed on top of her car, flattening it and killing her.

Normally, Coon would have used the Santa Ana Freeway on her trip. But her husband had advised her to use the Artesia Freeway because the Santa Ana was closed due to an big-rig accident that injured more than a dozen people.

“This is a very heavy blow,” said her husband, Russell, as he and other family members gathered to mourn and pray. “I spoke to her at 7 a.m. I gave her directions and told her take [the] 91 because of traffic on the 5. . . . She was only 2 miles from her exit. . . .”

This is not the first time the family has lost someone to an automobile accident. In 1981, the Coons’ 14-year-old daughter, Jennifer, died in a car crash.

“The only thing carrying me through this is my faith in Christ and the fact that every fiber of my body believes I will be reunited with Jennifer and Pat,” Coon said.

Patricia Coon, 58, was an active member of the Irvine First Ward of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Her husband is the former bishop of that church, and she was an officer in the women’s auxiliary.

“She was a sweet, lovely, darling lady,” said Caren Garlock, president of the women’s auxiliary. “She was a great listener, very forgiving and didn’t gossip. She was never one to judge; she just loved everybody. She was very loving and compassionate--the loss is great.”

In recent months, Garlock said, Coon had been aiding the family of a young cancer patient who underwent major surgery this week. “This is very ironic,” she said, “because he’s been the focus. We’ve all been thinking about him, and now this. . . .”

Last year, Garlock said, she and Coon helped provide food for the funeral reception at the home of the parents of a young church member who had died. “She stayed at the family’s house and put on the luncheon,” Garlock said. “She was the perfect one to go help with a funeral because she had gone through it herself. She worked with me the whole time, and now I’ll be doing it for her.”

Until Wednesday morning, Russell Coon was focused on his and his wife’s upcoming adventures on the road. He retired as a pharmacist three months ago, and they were about to celebrate their 38th wedding anniversary.

The pair had also picked some scenic spots in Idaho and Montana where they would have picnics and spend afternoons quietly reading among pine trees, he said.

They laid out maps with marks at West Lynn, Ore., where they would visit their 37-year-old son, Bradley, and his six children. There was another mark at the University of Utah, where they would visit 26-year-old son, Brian, and his 8-month-old daughter.

The Coons’ daughter Tracy lives in Lake Forest and rushed to her father’s side after hearing the news of her mother’s death.

“She was always doting on her grandchildren, buying them things,” Russell Coon said. “She was so much looking forward to spending time with them.”

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Times staff writers David Haldane and Janet Wilson contributed to this report.