Troy woman dies after wandering outside at night
Troy Dispatch received a 911 call just after 6 a.m. Sunday from the Schoolhouse Lake Road area, south of Troy. An ambulance was dispatched for a 39-year-old woman, Maria Hawk, who was unconscious and not breathing.
Troy Volunteer Ambulance responded, and advanced life support personnel engaged in efforts to resuscitate Hawk. She was transported to Cabinet Peaks Medical Center, but the efforts to save her proved unsuccessful and she was pronounced dead at the hospital.
While some details are being withheld pending completion of the investigation, Lincoln County Undersheriff Brent Faulkner confirmed that no foul play is suspected and that an autopsy is not being performed. The preliminary cause of death was reported as hypothermia.
Reports indicate that Hawk had been struggling with long-term medical issues and became confused in the middle of the night. She apparently wandered out of the house in the extreme cold, became disoriented and succumbed to the harsh weather. Her husband awoke in the early morning to find her missing and the back door to their home open. He began a search and found her unconscious near a neighbor’s house.
Hawk, who worked as an instructional paraprofessional for Troy School District, “touched the hearts of everyone she came in contact with,” said Jacob Francom, superintendent of Troy Public Schools. “Her passing is a big loss to the school district and the Troy community. She will be greatly missed.”
A colleague of Hawk who wished to remain anonymous simply added, “She was a very great lady.”
Troy resident Mike Sanders, whose son falls on the autism spectrum, worked with Hawk at the school for three years. He said she was “able to connect with his son in a way no other teacher had been able to do.”
Sanders remembered Maria Hawk as a warm and caring person who truly cared about her students and the community. Hawk “took my son to the prom two years in a row and danced her legs off with him,” Sanders said. “It was marvelous to have an aide like her.”
Hawk was involved in a number of school and community events, including performing in the school choir concert alongside the young Sanders. Earlier this year she worked with students in the school’s production of the play “Ducktails and Bobbysox.”
“She was always so happy, positive and just enjoyed helping others in any way that she could. Maria was fun to be around, easy to talk to and made everyone’s day better,” Francom said. “Maria went above and beyond in what she did.”
The principal of W.F. Morrison Elementary in Troy, Diane Rewerts, shared her memories of Hawk.
“She had a happy, energetic spirit,” Rewerts said. “I think that’s what I will remember most about her, her constant smile.”
Hawk worked with the elementary school’s after-school program and, alongside her husband Jeff, taught swimming to the community’s youth.
Former student Jennifer Williams Platnico started an online memorial fund at www.gofundme.com. As of Thursday afternoon, more than $1,250 had been raised to help the Hawk family with funeral and other expenses. Platnico was a student of Jeff Hawk, who teaches at Troy High School.