Lisa Garrett

By Carol Bryant
The Independent

Polk-Hordville basketball player Lisa Garrett was killed Saturday in a two-vehicle crash two miles east and four miles south of Hordville in Hamilton County.

 Garrett, 16, was driving to board the team bus to travel to the Crossroads Conference Tournament in York, according to her coach, Craig Brown.

 Garrett was eastbound on 23rd Road when her 1995 Chevrolet Cavalier collided at an unmarked intersection at 4:40 p.m. Saturday with a southbound car on Y Road driven by Bruce Bedient, 52, of Hampton.

 Garrett was the only person ejected from her car and died at the scene, according to a Nebraska State Patrol dispatcher in Grand Island.

 Garrett's sister, Lindsay, 14; and Corinna Vrbka, 12, of Clarks were passengers. No one in the car was wearing a seat belt, according to the State Patrol.

 Bedient's 49-year-old wife, Carol, was a passenger in his 1987 Mercury Marquis. Both were wearing seat belts, according to the State Patrol.

 The four survivors were transported by ambulance to Aurora Memorial Hospital. One male and one female were transported by air ambulance to BryanLGH West Hospital in Lincoln, a nursing supervisor at the Aurora hospital said.

 Vrbka was in critical condition with a head injury Sunday night at the Lincoln hospital, a nursing supervisor at the Lincoln hospital said. Bruce Bedient was in fair condition with chest bruises, the nursing supervisor said.

 Although the Aurora hospital would identify people treated there only by gender, by a matter of elimination, Carol Bedient and Lindsay Garrett were the two females treated and released from the hospital.

 Lisa Garrett was a junior at Polk-Hordville High School in Polk. Vrbka is a seventh-grader at Polk-Hordville Middle school, and her father, Andy Vrbka, is the football coach at the high school, said Polk-Hordville High School Principal Doug Gilson.

 "Today, we had an open time at the school from 1 to 5 p.m. We had our crisis team there," Gilson said Sunday night. Professionals from York and Central City and area ministers also were present.

 "We invited all the students and people from the community to come in," Gilson said.

 This is Gilson's first year at the high school.

 "She was probably the first student I got to know," he said about Lisa Garrett. "She was involved in about everything. ...She was very outgoing and very personable. Everywhere she went, people got to know her very well. She was an exceptional student and an exceptional athlete."

 Players on the girls and boys basketball teams at the high school will decide Monday whether or not they'll play in games Monday night against Hampton. Gilson is the boys basketball coach at the school.

 Brown told his girls basketball team after they defeated Rising City 50-43 Saturday night that Garrett was killed in a car accident.

 She was a member of St. Michael's Catholic Church in Central City.

 She was active in high school volleyball, basketball, track (1999 state qualifier), band, speech team, flag corps and one-act plays. She was a member of National Honor Society, student council and was selected for All-State Honor Band. She was a member of the South Central USA Volleyball Association and the Grand Island Junior USA Volleyball Association. She played on the Hampton 16-and-under softball team and the Central City 18-and-under softball team.

 Survivors include her parents, Bill and Shelli Garrett of Hordville; two brothers, Jeremy and Jason, both of Hordville; one sister, Lindsay, of Hordville; her grandparents, Marilyn Placke of St. Libory and Orville and Marj Garrett of Hordville; her great-grandmother, Bessie (Mrs. Marvin) Garrett of Randolph; and a special friend, Tony Cantrell of Fairmont.

 Services will be at 10:30 a.m. Wednesday at St. Michael's Catholic Church in Central City with the Rev. Nelson Newman officiating.

 Visitation will be from 4 to 9 p.m. Tuesday at the church with a rosary and scripture service at 7 p.m. Tuesday.

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