Funeral held for tow truck driver killed last weekend
STATE COLLEGE, Pa. (WJAC) — A tow truck driver was killed last weekend while he was working on the side of Interstate 80. Friday, his funeral was held in State College.
Folks at the service couldn't be saying nicer things about Jim Corl. You can hear in their voices how much they miss the man who put the "Happy" in Happy Valley.
Willie Nelson songs echoed throughout Koch Funeral Home on Friday.
Corl was killed along Interstate 80 outside his tow truck when he was removing a disabled vehicle on the highway. His truck was rear-ended while parked and burst into flames.
Loved ones spoke to those gathered Friday about Corl, and making sense of this tremendous loss.
"It turned into splinters, the warm runner went up in the air, and he face-planted right in the hard-packed snow. And I thought, 'he's gotta be in agony.' I got up next to him, and he wasn't feeling any pain at all. All he felt was terror. He looked right behind with the carnage and went, only words that came out of your mouth was 'Huh, this old man's gonna kill me,'" Randy Kepler, a friend of Corl, told the service in one story of him.
The goodbye to a dear friend was bittersweet. There were laughs and there were tears as people spoke about Corl, a dedicated tow truck driver who just turned 80 last week.
As 6 News' own Dylan Huberman reported Wednesday, his death had local first responders shaken.
One firefighter from Alpha Fire Company told Huberman he was angry that the driver didn't follow Pennsylvania's Move Over Act. The law requires motorists to move to the far lane whenever there's a first responder working. If they cannot move over, they must slow down to 20 mph at most.
RELATED: Death of Centre County Tow-Truck Driver Raises Safety Concerns for Roadside Responders
The state police investigation into the incident is still ongoing.
One friend of the Corl family, Susan Lechtanski, will miss Jim Corl popping by her house to say hi.
"Jim was a pillar of the community, willing to give -- literally the shirt off his back for someone in need," Lechtanski told 6 News.
"He was loved by every fire department in the Centre Region and respected by every towing and trucking company in Central Pennsylvania," she also said.
A man who's a longtime friend of Corl and is close with his sons, Randolph Aikens, will always remember Corl's heart of gold, and equally golden sense of humor.
"Him looking down on you -- looking at you through the top part of his glasses," was something Corl would do that Aikens loved.
"And he'd give you grief when you needed grief, but he'd hold your hand when you needed it held," he added to 6 News.
After the service, Corl's casket was placed inside a hearse, which was then loaded onto a tow truck. The truck then rode through State College, with a procession of tow trucks from all around the commonwealth. The line of vehicles seemed endless, stretching down multiple streets.
The procession of trucks and first responder vehicles rolled down busy South Atherton Street and onto Whitehall Road on the way to the cemetery.
A farewell that couldn't be more fitting for a man who loved tow-trucking for most of his life.
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