A Maine grandmother and cancer survivor died Thursday in a rare and tragic accident when a tree branch crashed through the windshield of her vehicle, authorities and family members said.
Amy Tatlock, 49, was killed at about 1:15 p.m. in Corinth, a community northwest of Bangor, according to the Penobscot County Sheriff’s Office. Relatives later identified Tatlock as the victim.
Investigators said a storm was moving through the area when lightning struck a tree beside Tatlock’s vehicle as she was driving, sending a branch down into the car. Tatlock, a mother of three and grandmother of three, had two of her grandchildren with her at the time, police said.
One grandchild, who was riding in the front passenger seat, sustained minor injuries and was taken to a hospital to be checked out. The other child, seated in the back, was not hurt.
Emergency crews responded swiftly and tried to provide medical assistance, but Tatlock was pronounced dead at the scene, the sheriff’s office said.
The deadly incident was seen by another driver, who noticed Tatlock’s vehicle was still moving after the branch struck her.
According to police, the witness “took decisive action to safely stop the vehicle,” an intervention authorities said likely prevented the children inside from suffering additional harm.
Tatlock leaves behind an extended family now mourning the loss of a cherished wife, mother and grandmother.
Amy Tatlock, 49, was killed in a freak accident on Thursday when a tree branch fell through the windshield of her car while driving. She is pictured with her husband, Andrew Tatlock
Tatlock is pictured with her three grandchildren, two of whom were in the car at the time of the accident. One suffered minor injuries and the other was unharmed
The grandma, who beat cancer last October, is survived by a large family who are deeply grieving her loss
Tatlock’s son, Christian Tatlock, told WABI: ‘She was the type of mom that you literally dreamed of… You couldn’t even think of a better mom.’
He added that his mother beat cancer in October of last year, which has made her sudden death all the more shocking.
‘Only something as crazy and as questionable as this could take her out,’ Christian said. ‘She wasn’t going down without a fight. That woman – she was the strongest woman I knew.’
Tatlock’s husband, Andrew Tatlock, said he is ‘numb’ and that it is still hard to believe that his wife is dead.
‘We look around the house, and it feels like she’s gonna walk in but we know she’s not going to,’ Andrew told WABI. ‘I will be thinking about her every day,’ he added.
The woman’s family has described her as ‘a light in so many lives’ and said they want her to be remembered for the selflessness and kindness she displayed daily.
Tatlock was a volunteer bus driver for a local school, and she was a Girl Scout troop leader for more than 20 years.
In 2019, she was featured in a WABI article for entering and winning a contest to make her home more accessible for her youngest, then-seven-year-old daughter, Madilyn Tatlock, who has muscular dystrophy.
Tatlock’s son, Christian Tatlock, said: ‘She was the type of mom that you literally dreamed of.’ The two are pictured together
Tatlock is pictured with her oldest daughter, Michaela Tatlock, who is the mother of the grandchildren. Michaela said: ‘Words cannot describe the pain in my heart’
‘Remember her as the giving, loving, courageous mother, grandma, friend, sister, aunt – everything that she was – instead of the tragedy,’ Christian said.
The day Amy died, her oldest daughter, Michaela Tatlock, wrote on Facebook: ‘Words cannot describe the pain in my heart today has left me with.
‘I love you more than you’ll ever know and I truly hope you knew that. You were the best mom and nana I could’ve asked for and I will never not miss you. I love and miss you so much already mom.’
Michaela organized a GoFundMe to help pay for funeral arrangements and an urn, saying that her father was left widowed and that the family did not have life insurance for the grandma.
She said she is not usually one to ask for help, and the fundraiser had a relatively modest original goal of $4,000. The GoFundMe has more than quadrupled that amount and earned more than $16,000 as of Sunday afternoon.
Michaela thanked everyone who reached out to the family to offer condolences and said the love and support they received has been ‘overwhelming.’
