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MCDOWELL NEWS (N Carolina) 29 May 08 Apparent rattlesnake bite killed McDowell woman (Britt CombS)
The tidy, well-kept yard of Pamela Summers looks vacant and lonesome now. The sound of her weed trimmer will be heard no more. Neighbors say it was a common sight for her to be in the yard, tending to flowers and shrubs.
According to next-door neighbor, Barbara Gregory, Summers lived at the residence on Reel Hollow Road for about 3 ? years.
"She loved her flowers and keeping her yard clean," Gregory said.
On Monday afternoon, Gregory found Summers dead in her home, apparently from complications due to a rattlesnake bite. Gregory said the snakebite occurred early last week while she and her husband, Jimmy Gregory, were away. Pamela had been trimming weeds.
"She was wearing jeans," Barbara said. "When we got back, she called me and said she didn't feel good. She said she'd either been bitten by a dog or a snake. I went and looked; it was on her right leg. It had two holes and it didn't look good.
"She said she wanted to go to sleep," she added, "and I said 'Pam, don't you go to sleep on me.' Then I called 911.
"The responders said it didn't look like a snakebite," she stated. "They thought maybe she'd gotten into a bees' nest. But the guy from EMS said it was a rattlesnake, so they took her to the hospital."
Gregory added that Summers had suffered from high blood pressure and several other ailments.
Summers spent the night in the intensive care unit and returned home the next day with orders, said Gregory, "to keep her leg elevated for a month." She had respiratory problems for several days after the incident, but she would not rest and keep her leg elevated as the doctor had directed, she added.
"She didn't like to be sitting in the house," said Jimmy Gregory. "She had to get out and do something."
On Memorial Day, Barbara received a call from Summers' sister, she said, asking her to go and check on Pam. When knocking and calling out got no response, Barbara used a spare key and entered the home.
"She was laying on the couch with her leg elevated and she was blue around the mouth and she was cold," she remembered tearfully. "I'm afraid to go down to the mailbox now."
Another neighbor, Frances Reel, said that there had been a lot of snakes seen recently in the area.
"They're doing a lot of building up at Wild Ridges and that runs them out of the woods," she said. "And the dry weather brings them out."
Pamela's cousin, Karen Croon, said Pamela had lived in McDowell for many years.
"She worked at the Marion Lake Club for quite a few years," she said, "either as a cook or in the pro shop." She said Pamela had to stop work due to fibromyalgia, severe headaches and persistent problems with a leg.
"She had a cat named Missy who stayed in the house with her and was very spoiled," she added.
She said that possibly an aunt from Indiana would take Missy, or else a local couple would adopt her.
"She had lots of friends. She had a great sense of humor. She was a very loving person, and an avid gardener. When she moved in there, she planted lots of flowers," Croon stated. "She just loved her plants."
Barbara Gregory said she's lost a dear friend and would miss going to town together several times each month. She will always remember Pamela's generosity.
"She took people into her home if they didn't have nowhere to go," she said. "Her trailer had two bedrooms and she'd rent the other room out to someone in need.
"She's at peace now," she added. "She's gone to the good Lord."
Apparent rattlesnake bite killed McDowell woman

CITIZEN-TIMES (Asheville, N Carolina) 29 May 08 Marion snakebite fatality is only third in the state since 2000 (Leslie Boyd)
A Marion woman’s death after a rattlesnake bite counts as just the third snakebite fatality recorded in North Carolina since 2000.
Nationwide, only about five people die each year from snakebites.
Pamela Summers died at her home Sunday, a week after being bitten.
She had been treated the day she was bitten and returned to the hospital Sunday morning, was released and went home, where she died.
Advances in antivenin have prevented most deaths from complications of snakebites, said Carol Schriber, a spokeswoman for the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services.
The national average has been fewer than four snakebite deaths a year for the last several years, Dr. Brian James Daley, of the University of Tennessee School of Medicine, wrote in an article for e-medicine of Web MD.
North Carolina doesn’t keep statistics on snakebites, only deaths. However, statistics are collected nationally through hospital emergency rooms.
North Carolina has the highest frequency of bites, with 19 per 100,000 people. The national average is about four bites per 100,000 people.
The state’s last two recorded snakebite deaths happened in 2005, according to the N.C. Center for Health Statistics Detailed Mortality Statistics.
Marion snakebite fatality is only third in the state since 2000