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Jeremy woman killed at construction site

Patrick Parkinson, Of the Record staff

A Jeremy Ranch woman who died Thursday in Henefer is being remembered as someone who supported her popular husband without needing to be in the limelight herself.

Saundra Toole, 64, was working with her husband Doug at a house the couple was building when the "terrible, horrific accident" occurred, Summit County Sheriff Dave Edmunds said.

She was apparently struck by a front-end loader. Toole died before emergency responders arrived at 2225 N. East Henefer Road around 3 p.m.

"There were other people who were there who did witness it," Edmunds said, adding that there "is no suspicion of foul play whatsoever."

As a physical therapist, Doug Toole was the "Good Samaritan of the North Summit and South Summit area," said Coalville resident RaNae Crittenden, the couple’s close friend.

"Saundra has been in the background of all his accomplishments," Crittenden said. "She has been a great supporter."

Doug is in his 60s and served on the Summit County Planning Commission from 1993 to 1997. He also refereed games in the National Football League for nearly two decades. The physical therapist is known for treating injured student athletes in eastern Summit County and expects to open a Coalville office.

Saundra was raised in Henefer, a town of a few hundred people at the northwest edge of Summit County.

News of her death spread "like wildfire," said Mayor Randy Ovard, who attended North Summit High School with Saundra.

"The town has absolutely been rocked with shock," Ovard said in a telephone interview Friday. "I’ve been in the store here this morning since 6:30 and that’s been the topic of discussion. Everyone who has come in has expressed shock and dismay."

Ovard owns a grocery store in Henefer where Toole bought fuel the night before she died.

"I helped her load the fuel cans into the truck and asked her how she was coming on the house. She said, ‘We’re really getting anxious to move in,’" Ovard said. "I received a call yesterday about 3 o’clock wanting to know if I knew what the ambulances were doing."

Ovard remembered the modest, two-bedroom home where Toole was raised with her six siblings in Henefer.

"Her grandmother died at 64. Her mother died at 64 and Saundra died at 64. That’s quite an irony," Ovard said.

Toole suffered from multiple sclerosis at the time of her death, Crittenden said.

"She wanted to move back to Henefer because her father lives there and he gave all of the children a piece of land," Crittenden explained. "Doug built the home for her because she wanted to move back to her roots."

The couple’s three daughters are each married and live in Utah and California.

"It’s rough to get through it all," Crittenden said. "I guess we don’t know how we’re going to actually go and leave this life. We have no idea."


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