Local ophthalmologist Dr. Andrew M. Keverline died early Tuesday
morning after a snowmobile accident in Warren County – four years
after a plane crash took his father’s life.
Keverline, 32, was operating a snowmobile at 11:15 p.m. Monday
on Peterson Hill Road, about three-quarters of a mile south of
Route 957 in Freehold Township when, according to Corry-based state
police, the snowmobile was not able to negotiate a curve and hit a
snowbank.
Keverline, who was wearing a helmet, was ejected from the
snowmobile, police said. He was reportedly riding with his two
nephews. The police report did not mention with whom Keverline was
riding.
Keverline, affiliated with Seneca Eye Surgeons, was pronounced
dead at the scene by Warren County Deputy Coroner Gary Sickler, who
said Tuesday night Keverline was pronounced dead at 1:58 a.m.
Tuesday. The cause of death was listed as a result of “blunt force
trauma to the head, neck and chest.”
Calls placed to the Bear Lake and Wrightsville volunteer fire
departments – both of which dispatched fire crews and emergency
responders to the scene of the accident – went unanswered Tuesday.
Corry Ambulance responded to the scene.
Keverline’s untimely death marks the second major tragedy for
his family in the last four years.
In October of 2002, a twin-engine Piper airplane piloted by Dr.
Paul Keverline – the father of Andrew Keverline – crashed near the
Lindholm Road. Paul Keverline was returning from an elk hunting
trip in New Mexico when the plane went down in Kinzua Bridge State
Park. The wreckage from his plane was found two days after it was
initially reported missing.
Paul Keverline was also an ophthalmologist and founded Seneca
Eye Surgeons.
An outgoing electronic message at the Warren-based Seneca Eye
Surgeons office said the office would be closed until after 8 a.m.
Thursday.
A representative at the Bradford-based office said that while
Keverline did have patients in Bradford, no one there could comment
on Keverline’s death or how it affects the practice. She referred
further questions to Debbie Wright at the Jamestown, N.Y.-based
Seneca Eye Surgeons office.
A representative at the Jamestown office told The Era Tuesday
afternoon Wright would be unavailable all that day, but would
return calls today.
Officials at Bradford Regional Medical Center, where Keverline
had been a member of the medical staff since August of 2004,
expressed their sympathy and sorrow in response to the news of the
younger Keverline’s death.
“Today, hospital and administration officials at Bradford
Regional Medical Center expressed their shock and sadness at the
unexpected loss of a fellow physician and colleague, Dr. Andrew
Keverline,” a hospital release said.
“It’s a loss to our medical community, to Bradford, the
surrounding region and to our patients,” BRMC President and Chief
Executive Officer George E. Leonhardt. “This type of news is always
a shock, but in a small community it’s even more so.
“We’re profoundly sorry for his family, his fellow physicians
and office staff. On behalf of the hospital and board, we share in
their loss,” he said.
Medical Staff President Dr. Donald Deforno echoed those
sentiments, expressing sympathy on behalf of the physicians of the
local community.
“We will all greatly miss his services and send our condolences
to the family,” Deforno said.
“On behalf of the Board of Directors, we offer our condolences
and our sympathies to his family,” said BRMC Board Chairman Ed
Pecht. “We’ve lost a key member of the medical community. We’re
saddened and shocked.”
Keverline, who resided at 17 Drumcliffe Drive, Warren, is a
graduate of the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine in
Pittsburgh; did his internship at Western Pennsylvania Hospital in
Pittsburgh; his residency at the Ear and Eye Institute, UPMC,
Pittsburgh; and earned his certification from the American Board of
Ophthalmology.
A brief obituary for Keverline appears on page 2 of today’s
Era.
