Former Burlington resident Diane Chart died as the result of injuries suffered in a motor vehicle crash in Greenfield Saturday.
According to several sources, Chart, 51 – who lived in Winchester near Minocqua – was driving with her son Dylan, 15, and Tomi, 19, an exchange student her family is hosting, when the crash occurred shortly after 5 p.m.
Quoting Capt. Michael Brunner of the Greenfield Police Department, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported Sunday that Chart was driving a Toyota Corolla north on South 27th Street when she turned left in front of a Dodge truck at West Coldspring Road. The resulting collision knocked down a stoplight and involved a third vehicle.
According to the newspaper account, when emergency personnel arrived Chart wasn’t breathing and had no pulse. Brunner told the Journal Sentinel that rescuers were able to revive Chart, but she died later at Froedtert Hospital in Wauwatosa.
Dylan Chart and the family’s exchange student were also taken to Froedtert where they were initially listed in critical condition, Brunner is quoted as saying. The 70-year-old Milwaukee woman who was driving the truck was treated at an area hospital and released.
The news of Chart’s death has shocked family, friends and acquaintances both in Burlington and the Minocqua area, where Chart and her husband Steve relocated several years ago.
Diane Chart, who worked as a bank manager in both Burlington and Minocqua, recently became executive director of the Northwoods Wildlife Center in Minocqua.
In a Facebook posting linked to the organization’s website, her coworkers expressed their grief:
“Diane was a fearless champion on behalf of wildlife and public education, a dedicated supporter of the Northwoods communities, and was at the very heart of the Northwoods Wildlife Center. While she leaves a huge void at the center, her kindness, mentoring, leadership and passion will guide us.”
There was a similar response locally from members of the Burlington Rotary Club who said they had the pleasure of serving alongside Chart while she was a member of their organization.
“We were all better people and Rotarians for having known this wonderful woman,” club member Barbara Kopack Hill wrote in response to an email regarding Chart’s death.
For additional information on the accident, see the Sept. 13 print edition of the Burlington Standard Press.
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The lives of those Diane touched are forever changed by her kindness. What a wonderful woman and friend – a special person who will not be forgotten.
my sincere thoughts and prayers go out to diane’s family and friends. i went to school with her oldest daughter and had the pleasure of working with her youngest daughter, both of whom are the most sweetest girls ever.
So very sad to learn that Diane was killed. She was a wonderful person and always ready to help. My deepest condolences to her family, who she dearly loved.
I am so very sad to here of Diane’s passing. My Prayers and love go out to the family.
I am shocked and saddened by the passingof Diane. My prayers go out to her family and friends during thier time of grief.
From the Hofer’s that grew up with you on Perkins Blud. you will be sadly missed.
Tomi, from Argentina, died too. May they rest in peace!