Weather | Sports | Forums | Comics | Classifieds | Calendar | Movies
RICHARD RAEKEWitnesses say Gwendolyn Irwin, 70, veered across U.S. 19 into oncoming traffic, through a parking lot, then crashed into a restaurant.
NEW PORT RICHEY - Standing at the auto parts counter Thursday morning, Rhonda Van Buskirk couldn't understand why the Buick was coming across the parking lot at that angle and speed. It had driven over the grass, narrowly missed the telephone pole and rolled out of view.
Then Van Buskirk heard it - all metal and glass - and ran outside. The 1997 Buick Regal had crashed through the glass front of Luigi's Italian Spanish Cuisine.
Bruce Mott, the owner of United Check Cashing next door, heard it, too.
"Like a small explosion," he said.
The building vibrated and he ran outside.
It was 10:22 a.m.
Mott and Van Buskirk grabbed a loosened cinder block from the storefront and heaved it through the car's rear window.
Mott unlocked the passenger door and Van Buskirk opened it, reaching across the seat to Gwendolyn Irwin, 70.
Van Buskirk felt for a pulse. There was none. Irwin's skin felt cool to the touch. There was no blood. Her eyes were open.
"Somebody said she had a heart attack or a stroke," said Norma Munson, Irwin's friend and executor of her estate.
Munson said she believes Irwin died before hitting the restaurant. She was too conscientious and too good of a driver, Munson said.
A few minutes later and Rosa and Luis Arleo might have been in their new restaurant. The Arleos bought Luigi's one month ago. They were both at home, getting ready to open the restaurant's doors at 10:30 a.m.
"It could have been a lot worse," said Mitch Scott, the owner of the shopping center.
Irwin was driving north on U.S. 19 when she veered across the median into oncoming southbound traffic before she crashed into Luigi's, south of Sunset road, according to Officer Keith Campbell of the New Port Richey Police Department.
The police were withholding her name pending notification of her next of kin. However, Munson identified the woman as Irwin.
Irwin opened Books, Etc. on Ridge Road in 1984, selling used paperbacks.
Munson said Irwin was originally from Ohio and moved to Florida after her husband died.
Irwin lived with her parents James Newton Oldaker and Pearl Frazier Oldaker on Baxley Lane in New Port Richey until they died within a week of each other in 2001.
Irwin most recently lived on Mayfield Drive in Port Richey, according to public records.
Although Irwin had no children of her own, she had two stepchildren living out West.
Her social life revolved around the written word and her friends from her book club, Munson said. They devoured mysteries.
"We were what you would call bookworms," Munson said.