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A Salisbury woman was killed north of Columbia on Saturday after her car collided with a pickup that was driving on the wrong side of the road, according to the Missouri State Highway Patrol.
Heidi Strodtman, 19, was driving in the northbound lane of U.S. 63, returning home for the weekend from the University of Missouri-Rolla, where she was a freshman geology and geophysics major. Her 1995 Pontiac was struck head-on by an uninsured 2001 Dodge pickup driven by Don Thompson, 47, of Mexico, Mo.
Strodtman was pronounced dead at the scene at 8:30 p.m.
Thompson, who was not wearing a seatbelt, was in serious condition at University Hospital. A third driver, Daniel Skouby, was struck by Strodtman’s car but was uninjured.
Charges were pending in the case.
“She was completely devoted to her family and friends,” said Kent Strodtman, Heidi Strodtman’s brother. “There wasn’t anything she wouldn’t do or go to.”
Heidi Strodtman’s other brother, Kirk Strodtman, had just returned home from Iraq in September.
“My whole company didn’t lose a person,” he said, which made having tragedy strike at home have all the more impact. Heidi Strodtman was to take part in his wedding in June.
Lyndi Manson, Strodtman’s cousin, arrived from Tulsa, Okla., on Sunday after the accident. Manson remembered her cousin as “sweet, caring, quiet and reserved, but once you got to know Heidi you knew how funny she was.”
Family described Strodtman as an avid swimmer who loved painting and traveling. She spent one school break in Mississippi cleaning up damage caused by Hurricane Katrina, and her brothers both said she was planning a return to the area this summer.
Visitation has been set for 2 p.m. today at Summerville Funeral Home in Salisbury, and funeral services are to be held at 10:30 a.m. Wednesday at St. Joseph Catholic Church in Salisbury. The family will also take donations for the Heidi Stordtman Memorial Fund. Some of the money collected will be used to send students to help with Katrina cleanup.
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