On Tuesday morning, December 29 the roads on I-90 were snow packed and icy.  By noon, temperatures had warmed up and the snow had turned to slush.  Ardella Hower, who had recently moved to Superior from Corvallis, was driving east just past Superior, when her Dodge Caliber hit a slushy patch of snow near mile marker 58 around 1 p.m. 

Hower lost control of her vehicle and it rolled several times and landed on the shoulder of the west bound lane.  

Sgt. Roman Zylawy was called to the scene and said that the vehicle was going down a hill just before the rest area and she (Hower) failed to negotiate the corner. The vehicle came to rest on its side, pinning Hower to the ground.  The hood of the vehicle was smashed in and so it was difficult to get her out.  

The Superior volunteer fire department arrived and put air bags under the car. Once inflated, they were able to extract Hower from the vehicle.

 “The fire department was a big help with the use of their equipment in order to get her out,” Zylawy said.

Once removed from her vehicle Hower, 67, was loaded into an ambulance.  Unfortunately, she had suffered severe head trauma and was pronounced dead at the hospital. She is survived by her husband, Lonny.