Kilgore man dies in Hwy. 31 head-on collision Saturday

Dec. 06--Mark Tippitt was a helper, his nephew says, the kind of person who would drop whatever he was doing to lend a hand.

"He'd shut down at any moment to go and help somebody," Jason Dame said Monday.

Tippitt, 56, died Saturday afternoon in a two-vehicle wreck on State Hwy. 31, a head-on collision about nine miles west of the Kilgore City Limits.

The Kilgore man's wife, Kilgore Middle School instructor Traci Tippitt, was seriously injured in the incident as was her father, local insurance agent Jack Ward of Lake Cherokee, and the driver of the other vehicle, Longview resident Keith Nelson.

According to the Texas Department of Public Safety, troopers responded to the crash site shortly after 4 p.m. Saturday in Smith County.

"Preliminary crash investigation revealed that a 2006 Ford Expedition was traveling eastbound on SH-31," according to a report from DPS Trooper Jean Dark, "when it entered the opposing lane of traffic, striking a 2015 GMC Traverse head-on."

The eastbound Expedition was being driven by 32-year-old Nelson, Dark noted; he was transported to East Texas Medical Center in Tyler in "serious condition."

According to Dark, Traci Tippitt, 50, was behind the wheel of the westbound Traverse when it was hit by Nelson's Expedition. She was transported to ETMC-Tyler in "stable condition," Dark reported, while Ward, 78, was taken to the local hospital in "critical condition." Mark Tippitt was pronounced dead at ETMC-Tyler.

Suffering numerous breaks and other injuries in the wreck, Traci Tippitt is stable, Dame said Monday, recovering following surgery. Ward, too, suffered numerous injuries and is recovering.

"Everybody's improving," he added.

No further details are available on the wreck as DPS troopers continue their investigation.

Funeral services for Mark Tippitt are pending with Rader Funeral Home of Kilgore.

Raised in Wright City near Overton, "He was really helpful, always willing to help," Dame said. "He loved his grandkids and his family."

A carpenter from a young age, Tippitt specialized in the craft as a young adult, his nephew added.

"Through that he became a builder of houses and just about anything," Dame said. "He had a job for Gladewater School District for the last year or so; he was working over there in their maintenance department.

"If you had a question, he had the answer for it -- he had the answers to just about anything you'd need. He was a really good guy."

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