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Pleasant Hills woman dies in Jet Ski accident
Monday, July 03, 2000 By Jan Ackerman, Post-Gazette Staff Writer
The state Fish and Boat Commission is investigating an accident on the Allegheny River in which a Pleasant Hills woman died and three others were injured while being towed in an inner tube by the driver of a Jet Ski.
Lisa Ann Smith, 36, was pronounced dead at UPMC Presbyterian, where she was flown after the 6:20 p.m. crash on Saturday.
Two other women, whose identities were not released, were treated at Allegheny Valley Hospital in Natrona Heights.
A fourth woman, age 27, also was flown to Presby and was being treated for a concussion, authorities said. Her condition was not available last night.
The group had been attending a cookout on the banks of the Allegheny River in a secluded camping area known as The Cove.
Smith and the other women had been riding in an inner tube that was being pulled by Loran Tyler, 35, of Pittsburgh, said Emil Svetahor, regional manager for the fish commission.
The accident occurred along the riverbank near Forest Road on the Westmoreland County side of the river.
Witnesses said that as Tyler turned the craft, the tube swung toward the shore and hit the rocks, throwing the four women off.
Rescue crews were unable to reach the victims on foot, so they called for a boat to be sent from Freeport, across the river in Armstrong County.
The boat crew retrieved the women and took them to Freeport High School, where helicopters transported them to hospitals.
Svetahor said no charges have been filed, but an investigation is under way to determine whether any Fish and Boat Commission laws were broken.
Miss Smith, who was raised in Speers, Washington County, and called Smitty by her friends, was a registered dental hygienist. She worked for Dr. Joseph Fera of White Oak and Dr. Tammy DeGregorio of Shadyside. In addition, she often filled in on her days off at other dental offices around the region.
That's how DeGregorio found her. The dentist, who was pregnant at the time, was desperate for help. She heard through the grapevine that Miss Smith "might possibly have a day."
One day a week eventually turned to three.
"We were like the dynamic duo," DeGregorio said last night. "We were a great team. She sparked my practice and my patients loved her. We were the perfect professional match. My goal was to get her there every day. She was definitely a big highlight in my professional career. She was so up-to-date continuing education-wise. She really took her job seriously and was the best dental hygienist I've seen."
Privately, Miss Smith was devoted to her family, and to her wide circle of friends, including an intimate core of women whom she had known since childhood. The group has been known for years simply as, "You girls."
"Lisa had the most incredible laugh and her middle name was fun," said Post-Gazette Staff Writer Johnna A. Pro, one of the group. "I often teased her about the fact that she was never home. But it was true, she wasn't. She considered every single day an adventure and if she wasn't working, she was on the go, either traveling, shopping, working out, or spending time with the people she loved. What all her girlfriends admired most about her was her ability to find the magic in even the simplest of activities, such as a Pizza Hut lunch with her nephew, Joshua."
Miss Smith was a 1982 graduate of Charleroi Area High School and remained an active member of her class reunion committee. She earned a bachelor's degree from West Virginia University in 1986.
She is survived by her parents, Donald and Mary Jo Wehousie Smith of Speers; a brother, Reid J. Smith of Dravosburg; and a sister, Susan Borsevich of Speers Hill.
Visitation will be from 7 to 9 p.m. today and from 2 to 4 and 7 to 9 p.m. tomorrow at the Schrock-Hogan Funeral Home, Inc. 226 Fallowfield Ave., Charleroi.
A Mass will be said at 10 a.m. Wednesday at St. Joseph Roman Catholic Church in Roscoe, Washington County.
Burial will follow at Sacred Heart Cemetery.
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