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Wild West couple killed in truck tragedy
21.10.09
A elderly British couple who were Wild West enthusiasts died after being run down by a pick-up truck during their annual pilgrimage to Tombstone, Arizona.
Arthur and Winifred Wilkinson, 81 and 75, from Preston, Lancashire, were well known to inhabitants of the city due to their regular trips in which they would dress in period clothing for re-enactments of the Gunfight at the OK Corral.
They were killed on Monday while crossing the road at a well-known accident black spot. The driver who hit them tried to save their lives, but Mr Wilkinson was pronounced dead at the scene and his wife died shortly after at a nearby hospital.
Locals spoke of their fondness for the Wilkinsons. The couple married in Tombstone in 2002 and returned every year to take part in the annual Helldorado Days - an event celebrating the famed 1881 shoot-out in the city.
"They'd dress up in 1800-period clothing and they'd make friends with whoever they came in contact with," Tombstone marshal Larry Talvy said yesterday.
He added: "They were such a wonderful older couple. After years of them coming down and visiting, it's hard to forget them."
He said many of the city's 1,800 inhabitants who knew the couple would mourn their loss.
Johnny Martin was amongst those saddened by the death of the couple he knew as Mick and Sylvia. He told local TV station KOLD: "The community absorbs them. It takes them to heart and you couldn't help it with them."
Rusty, a singer at Big Nose Kate's Saloon, spoke to the Wilkinsons shortly before their death.
He told KOLD: "They were just happy to be here and just having a good time. They were going to eat some dinner and go to the house and call it a day."
They were killed while attempting to cross a section of the state highway that has claimed five victims in the past decade, according to officials.
Locals know that the crossing is dangerous, but according to Mr Talvy, many still do so because it is impracticable to cross elsewhere.
Local authorities have lobbied the Arizona Department of Transportation to build a better crossing or add lighting along the highway but to no avail.
Tombstone inhabitants left flowers at the site of the accident.
Mr Martin told KOLD: "The one thing that came out of it, I suppose if you believe in that, is that they went together, as they would have done in a place they loved more than any other place."
