Miss Deaf Texas struck by train while walking on train tracks...never heard it coming

[Terminator]

AUSTIN (AP) - Tara Rose McAvoy, the reigning Miss Deaf Texas, died Monday afternoon after being struck by a train, officials said.

State pageant director Laura Loeb Hill told The Associated Press via e-mail Monday night that McAvoy, 18, had been deaf since birth.

McAvoy, who won the state title in June, was to represent Texas at the Miss Deaf America pageant this summer in Palm Desert, Calif., according to Loeb Hill.

Witness Carlos Burgos told Austin television station KTBC that the train was sounding its horn right up until the time the accident happened.

Authorities believe McAvoy was walking near some tracks when she was struck by a Union Pacific train.

McAvoy had represented Texas "with dignity and pride," Loeb Hill said.

McAvoy graduated last year from the Texas School for the Deaf, attended Austin Community College and then started at Gallaudet University in January, but had returned to Texas, Loeb Hill said. -

[Roses]

Very tragic. May she rest in peace.

Is there no vibrations on the train tracks that she would have felt?

[Retdetsgt]

Hmm, I wonder if it was a suicide. That young woman suddenly had a lot of pressure put on her. Doesn't seem reasonable to me that a person that bright, deaf or not wouldn't look for a train coming.