PEKIN -- A 106-year-old woman died ...

PEKIN -- A 106-year-old woman died hours after a form honoring her as the last known survivor of single in kind of the Illinois River's deadliest riverboat tragedies nearly 90 years ago.

Lucille Adcock died at a Pekin nursing dwelling Sunday, the same day a state historical marker was rededicated upon Pekin's riverfront in memory of the steamboat Columbia, which claimed 88 lives when it sank onward July 5, 1918.

TOO ILL TO ATTEND

As the single known survivor, Adcock was invited to be the visitant of honor for the ceremonial She was unable to attend because she had been ill for several years, still sent her three daughters in her place.

"It was a dutiful day for her to go on foot when everyone was celebrating her life," said daughter Beverly Bowman of Pekin.

Adcock was among 496 passengers aboard the Columbia when a tree stub tore a gaping hole in its husk as the riverboat returned from a Peoria amusement park to Kingston Mines, southern of Peoria.

Then 19 Adcock survived by way of hanging onto a flag perch until help arrived.

RAN RESTAURANT

Bowman said her mother lived a satiated life, taking her first work at jobs at her grandfather's cigar factory and later running a restaurant in Pekin. She endur tragedy again three decades after Columbia's sinking when her husband died in 1950

The tragedies, her daughter said, "made her stronger She was a excessively strong woman."

Adcock also is survived at a total of 105 grandchildren, great- grandchildren and great-great-grandchildren.

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