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Police said 82-year-old Nancy Hamilton arrived in the parking lot of a veterinary clinic with a pet Saturday around 4:15 p.m., but her car was not shifted into park. As Hamilton walked behind the vehicle to retrieve her pet from the passenger side of the car, the car rolled backward, striking and running her over.
Alex Wong / Getty Images file
Former U.S. Rep. Lee Hamilton of Indiana testifies during a hearing in Washington, D.C., in 2006. His wife, Nancy, died Saturday.
Bloomington Police Capt. Joe Qualters said Hamilton was alone at the time, and he believes the incident to be entirely accidental.
Monroe County Coroner Nicole Meyer told NBC News Hamilton died from blunt force trauma to the head and suffered chest injuries. She was taken to the Indiana University Health Center in Bloomington where she died hours later.
"This is so tragic," Charlotte Zietlow, former Bloomington City Council president, told the Herald-Times. "They were going to have a life together."
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Zietlow said she had just met with Lee and Nancy Hamilton at a party for Bloom Magazine last week. The former congressman and his wife were starting to settle into their new life in Indiana after decades of living in Columbus, Ind., and Washington, D.C., she said.
Zietlow said Nancy was an avid painter and used oils and watercolors to paint landscapes and portraits of her children.
“She was just wonderfully cheerful, a great wife for him, and also led her own life,” Zietlow said, adding that Nancy had a brilliant smile. “[Lee] was very, very stable, and it’s not easy to hold up a family when one person has to give up so much time to do a job. And it’s no ordinary job; it was serving the people of this country.”
Lee Hamilton, 81, represented southern Indiana in Congress for more than 30 years and was vice chairman of the 9/11 commission. He joined Indiana University in 1999 to create its Center on Congress. He remains the center's director.
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Pat Williams, the former head of the Democratic Party in Monroe County, told the Herald-Times she met with the Hamiltons at the same party as Zietlow. She said she was delighted to hear they would be starting their retired life in Bloomington.
“Nancy always did it better,” Williams said. “She was truly a beautiful person, and we were all saddened that she had so little time with us in the Bloomington community.”
The Hamiltons had three children – Tracy, Deborah and Douglas – and five grandchildren.
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Leave a Comment:
Honestly, the saddest part of all this is the quote in the article of "They were going to have a life together."
Wait until you are into your 80's before you decide to slow down enough to "have a life" with your spouse? Enjoy and love those you are close to now, and do so deeply and without reservation. They are the most important elements of your life, not job, money, hobbies, or whatever. As this article reminds us, often we postpone giving ourselves to those we love, and always lament this after its too late.
Hopefully, Mr. Hamilton and his wife had a deep, rich shared life together. Not just one of sharing the same space while being distracted on everything else in their lives.
I can see it now...the car has been sold to a dealer ,the dealer is trying to re sell the car and he says..."Sir this car only rolled over a little old lady on Sunday.
Dane Cook?
Dick H.,,,,Good point,,,,,these hate filled comments and the lack of respect for such a loss, just shows the defect in the character of the commenters!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Such a loss? What loss? What did you lose? If her family cared about her she never would have been driving in the first place, so what did they lose or did they gain from an insurance policy. You can bet there have been signs leading up to this.
Now we know...
People don't kill people. Cars kill people.
Let's ban all cars in the US!
Condolences to the Hamilton family. Age doesn't alway's play a factor. That is why they are called accidents, anyone could have the same thing happen. It only takes a moment of inattention, to distract you to cause an accident at any age.
It's sad, but everyone should know to walk around the front of the car, not the rear. Wonder if the pet needs to have counseling...
You have a car with the door in the front? Thought the French quit making those decades ago.
cars can't be left in drive, only reverse?
How would walking in front of the car (left in neutral) help if the incline happened to be in that direction?
My condolences to this man. Whatever his idealogies he spent his career working to better America in the best way he knew and in a way he believed.
Also, my sympathies to the families of the low-life scum that would use this time of a man's grief and despair at losing his wife to make crass sophomoric comments. It must be hard to exist with something so low and base, totally without any sense of decency.
So tragic...condolences to her family.
Anybody using this story to try and gain some political upper hand is shameful. My heart goes out to the family and even if this god forbid happened to a politian's wife who was a republican my sympathy would still be with the family. this is NOT a story for wise cracks shame on all of you who did that.
Shame on those who had to interject political sarcasm or otherwise hateful remarks in a story about a tragic accident. What sorry little lives you must lead.
I see a lawsuit here not only against the car mfr, but also the vet, the asphalt company....
The Humane Society..
This is terrible. This made me think of my own mother who is also 82 and still drives on a limited basis (no freeway driving).
Since Rep. Hamilton is a Democrat, we won't get the usual barrage of sneering, celebratory, hate-filled spew from Leftie bigots, such as pollutes the comment page every time something bad or tragic happens to a conservative. (For a recent example, see the charming selection in the story about the sudden death of Chick-Fil-A's VP of Public Relations, or the wonderful warm fuzzies in the story about Billy Graham's recent hospitalization).
so you have to be as bad as the people you claim to dislike. Shameful just shameful people like you (on both sides) are what is dragging this country down. I hope Billy Graham is ok and the VP of Chick-Fil-A my heart goes out to them. Try practicing compassion instead of hate.
Mousie, winky-woodums, I didn't say a single bad thing about Rep. Hamilton or his wife. I just pointed out that Lefties are evil.
"They were going to have a life together."
At 82 years old, they DID have a life together.
So true! It should have been that way over so many years. Marriage before job!!
I wish people did not have to be so mean and judgmental of this poor woman. Give her a break. She was probably just drunk.
And this is why grandma was run over by a reindeer.
Why didn't the car roll long before she was behind it? I mean, at 82 it probably took her a little while to get out of the car, then walk behind it. Wouldn't if have rolled before then?
Depends on the degree of incline.
It was not tragic IT'S WHY OLD PEOPLE SHOULD NOT DRIVE!!! They kill not only themselves but other people too!!! She lived a long life - move on...
I'm fifty and had this happen. I walked behind the car, closed the garage door, and was in the house before it rolled back into the door. A moments inattention can happen at any age. Personally I'd rather the old people drive than the idiots who think they are capable of texting or talking on the phone while they are driving.
A lot of people do this. That is, leave running cars unattended. I would never do that. And I don't understand why some people do. To me, it screams "dangerous". I'm sorry to hear about Mrs. Hamilton.
It didn't say she left it running, just that it wasn't in "Park".
Oops! Reading comprehension error. Thanks for pointing that out.
You wonder why America has problems...Just read the vine, it says it all...My sincere condolences to the family and May God Please Bless Us...We Sure Do Need It!
On occassion, my Mom would turn the car off before putting it into park. But you can't get the key out unless it is in park. And she wouldn't leave it, not even in the garage, with the key in it. This poor soul. She probably shouldn't have been driving. I pray that her husband has peace knowing that she is with the Lord. How sad.
I had a Volkswagen vanagon years ago that took forever to warm up in the winter. One morning I left it idling in front of my home warming up when about 10 minutes later I get a knock on my door from an irate neighbor. My van had rolled about 50 yards down the street and sideswiped her car. got 2 doors and the front fender. I couldn't believe i forgot to set the emergency brake. A short time later I was waiting for someone with the van running and the parking brake on. I was hearing a click about every 15 or 20 seconds. My parking brake was slowly releasing from the vibration of the engine. Weird crap happens.
To: Rep. Hamilton, Family & Friends,
Please accept our heart-felt condolences....we pray, that God will comfort you all in this time of bereavement.
She may have been texing or on the cell phone when walking behind the car, have you ever seen an old person driving while on the cell phone?
Yes, yes I have
To Rep Hamilton and those at the Hamilton driving school..
P IS FOR PARK
I thought the R was for REST
Now did that make you feel important?
Be careful out there! RIP