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1/8/2015
Local couple dies in accident
By Tom Marshall
Senior Advocate writer
The local couple killed in a traffic accident on the Mountain Parkway Dec. 29 was excited about the upcoming birth of their child, a person close to them told the Advocate this week.
Marshel Brian Craig, 38, and Rebecca Jean Young Taulbee, 29, were killed when their vehicle collided with an ambulance along the Mountain Parkway in Clark County.
Taulbee was nearly seven months pregnant, family said. The baby’s due date was March 17.
The couple had already prepared a room for the child, a boy, who was to be named Aiden Scott Craig, said Rebecca Cooper, Craig’s ex-wife and mother of two of his four children.
Later, possibly July 4, Independence Day, the couple planned to marry, Cooper said. They had been together for about a year when the accident occurred.
She said Taulbee, who worked at Masco in Mt. Sterling, very much loved children and treated Craig’s children as if they were her own.
They include daughters Hannah Craig, 15, and Courtney Craig, 13, and sons Conner Craig, 8, and Zachary McIntosh, 6.
“She was a wonderful person,” said Cooper, mother of Hannah and Courtney. “She was so good to his kids. My girls thought of her as a second mother.”
And Cooper said Taulbee always made sure Craig’s children felt welcome at her home.
“She would text my girls daily to check on them to tell them if they needed anything she was always right there,” Cooper said. “If you need me, just call me. She was a special person.”
Those who knew Craig, a professional truck driver, said he was a fun-loving man who was passionate about his role as a volunteer firefighter.
He most recently volunteered with the Owingsville Fire Dept., but had also been a volunteer in Montgomery County several years ago.
“He took it serious,” said Rob Kiskaden, who worked alongside Craig with the Owingsville Fire Dept. “I think more than anything he liked helping the community.”
Craig was also a good hearted person who would help anyone who needed it, Cooper said.
“If he was helping someone he felt like he had accomplished something,” she said.
Coping with the loss of two such caring people and their unborn child has been almost too much to handle, Cooper said.
“It’s been very hard on all of us,” she said.
Cooper said the couple had just recently moved to Stanton.
The cause of the accident remains under investigation by the Clark County Sheriff’s Office.
Sheriff Berl Perdue Jr. reported to the media earlier that Craig was driving a 2001 Nissan Maxima near the 8-mile marker on the Parkway about 2:30 p.m. when he crossed the center line and struck an Owsley County ambulance.
Both Craig and Taulbee died at the scene. They had to be cut out of the car, according to reports.
The driver and attendant in the ambulance were injured in the crash but were expected to recover, Perdue told the media. No patients were on board.
What caused Craig to cross the center line is a mystery. Cooper said she was told that a medical issue involving Craig may have been a factor in the wreck. He was driving.
The bodies were sent to the state medical examiner’s office in Frankfort for autopsy. Clark County Deputy Coroner Sarah Crews said hopes are that the autopsy will shed light on the cause of the accident.
Perdue said accident reconstruction experts were still looking into the accident earlier this week and he wasn’t sure when a report would be available.
Craig was a Montgomery County native and a member of the Church of God.
He is survived by his children, Hannah and Courtney of Mt. Sterling; Conner and Zachary of Owingsville; and a sister, Michelle Ford of Alabama.
His parents, Marshel Sr. and Linda Craig, and a brother, Brandon Craig, were killed in March 2013 in a traffic accident on U.S. 460.
Taulbee was a native of West Liberty and a member of the Church of God.
She is survived by her parents, Henry and Pamela Rose Young of Mt. Sterling; a sister, Denise Young; and listed Craig’s four children as her step-children.
The couple were remembered Jan. 2 during a combined funeral service at Herald and Stewart Home for Funerals. Both are buried at Machpelah Cemetery.
For complete obituary information, see Page A9.
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