DANNEMORA — Harold "Jimmy" Manley finished a battle with lung cancer last year.
Then, he and his wife, Joann, 63, lost their granddaughter in a car accident less than six months ago.
And early Monday, more tragedy — a fiery car wreck took the lives of the Dannemora couple.
"Joann and Jimmy were wonderful, caring, loving, very attentive to their kids — Harold, Jill, Gail and Cathy — and funny people," said niece Michelle Bull.
"Our family is very saddened by this tragic accident."
Mr. Manley, 69, was driving a 2003 Buick Park Avenue east on Route 374 at around 5:25 a.m. when the car went off the south side of the roadway for unknown reasons.
It traveled roughly 325 feet before overturning and coming to rest on its roof.
The Buick caught fire, and the Manleys, who were both in the front seat, were unable to escape.
Rear-seat passenger Brenda L. Drown, 59, of West Chazy was able to escape with minor injuries. She was transported by ambulance to CVPH Medical Center in Plattsburgh, where she was treated and released.
Autopsies are scheduled for today at CVPH to determine the cause of the Manleys' deaths.
State Police are continuing to investigate the accident.
"We don't know the whole story as of yet," said Bull, contacted by e-mail at her home in Minnesota.
Her niece contacted her at 9 a.m. Monday with the news.
"I then called my twin brother, Michel Bull, in Cadyville to tell him. He got right off the phone and had to go find out what happened."
Michelle Bull and her boyfriend were in Cadyville during the week of Aug. 15 to 22 to visit family.
They flew from Minnesota to Burlington, Vt., took the ferry over and were driving to Cadyville when they passed a truck loaded with hay.
Bull knew it was her Uncle Jimmy and told her boyfriend to stop.
She ran to the truck, Uncle Jimmy asked for his kiss, and they chatted for a bit.
"He always told me that he was my favorite uncle," Bull said, "which he was."
TOUGH TIMES
Jimmy, a farmer from "way back," according to Bull, got a clean bill of health last year after a long battle with lung cancer.
Not quite six months ago, Jimmy and Joann lost their granddaughter Stephanie Heath. She and close friend Courtney Alexander, both Saranac High School seniors, died in a one-car accident on Hugh Herron Road.
A softball tournament was just held this weekend to raise money for a scholarship in their memory.
Bull recalls her own father, Walton Bull, having coffee with Jimmy and Joann nearly every morning.
"I'm in shock," Bull said. "The poor family has been through so much."
E-mail Stephen Bartlett at: sbartlett@pressrepublican.com
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