Daily Corinthian Newspaper, Corinth, MS (1949)
FATALLY INJURED IN FALL FROM MOVING TRUCK
MISS ERLENE BRIGHT OF WALNUT DIES FOLLOWING ACCIDENT; RITES TODAY
Miss Erlene Imogene Bright, 21-year-old resident of Route 3, Walnut, Miss., was fatally injured in an accident which occurred when she and eight other people fell from the rear end of a truck while enroute to church Sunday night about 7 o'clock.  Miss Bright died at 8:15 o'clock last night at the Corinth Hospital, where she was carried for treatment of back and head injuries sustained in the fall.The accident was reported to have occurred when the truck, said to have been driven by Marlin Wilbanks of Walnut, rounded the curve at the foot of Forsyth Hill on Highway 72, approximately 12 miles west of Corinth.  Reports stated that ten people were riding on the bed of the truck and all went to the side, exerting pressure on the bed siding of the truck which broke under the combined weight of the standing passengers, throwing them from the truck.  Only one of the passengers was reported to have remained in the truck.
Miss Ailene Wilbanks of Route 3, Walnut, was reported to have suffered a broken collar bone in the fall, and several others received scratches and bruises.  Miss Wilbanks, who is receiving treatment at the Corinth Hopsital, was reported by attaches this morning to be "getting along nicely."
Funeral service for Miss Bright was held this afternoon at 2 o'clock from the Mt. Pleasant Church, of which she was a member.  Rev. W.T. Bazzle conducted the last rites.  Burial was in the Mt. Pleasant cemetery with Perkin's Funeral Home in charge of arrangements.
She leaves her father, C.F. Bright of Route 3, Walnut (her mother died August 5th of this year); three brothers, Hoover, Harold and Paul Bright, all of Route 3, Walnut; and three sisters, Melba, Angle and Letty Bright, of Route 3, Walnut.  She is also survived by her grandparents, Mrs. Sally Crum, and Bob Knight, Sr., both of Route 3, Walnut.
Friends and neighbors were pall bearers