About Maegan Spindler (1988-2013)
Biography
Maegan Elizabeth Spindler was born on March 1, 1988. She grew up in Cazenovia, New York, and graduated from Cazenovia High School in 2006. She earned a bachelor’s degree in wildlife science from the College of Environment Science and Forestry at State University of New York (SUNY) in 2010, and she continued her education at Vancouver Island University, earning a post-degree diploma in fisheries and aquaculture in 2011. She loved the environment, and she enjoyed a wide variety of outdoor activities, including hunting, fishing, gardening, hiking, camping, backpacking, and traveling. She also liked print making, painting, and photography. After 2 years of working for the Wyoming Game and Fish Department, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) hired Spindler as a biological technician, and she assisted with the recovery of endangered sturgeon in the Missouri River. Spindler’s passion for rivers and fish grew while serving at the Great Plains Fish and Wildlife Conservation Office in South Dakota, and as a result, she planned to start graduate school in 2014 to study how to better conserve native fish species.
Cause of Death
On July 8, 2013, Spindler and another Service employee, Dr. Robert Allan Klumb, were talking in a parking lot outside of a hotel in Pickstown, South Dakota. A drunk driver ran through a stop sign at an intersection and blew through the parking lot, crashing into the two of them as well as two parked cars. They both died shortly afterwards from their injuries. In 2015, the court convicted the drunk driver, Ronald Ray Fischer, on two counts of vehicular homicide and drug charges.
Sources:
“Cazenovia resident killed in South Dakota crash.” Eagle News Online, 20 July 2013, eaglenewsonline.com/new/obituaries/2013/07/10/cazenovia-resident-killed-south-dakota-crash/.
“Lake Andes Man Convicted Of Vehicular Homicide.” KDLT News, 5 Feb. 2015.
“Maegan Elizabeth Spindler, 25.” Capital Journal, 9 July 2013.
“Maegan Spindler | 1988-2013| Obituary.” Peters Funeral Homes, www.meaningfulfunerals.net/obituary/2150210?fh_id=11337.
Nixon, Lance. “After Pickstown: Area remembers Fish & Wildlife Service researchers killed in car crash.” Capital Journal, 26 July 2013, www.capjournal.com/news/after-pickstown-area-remembers-fish-wildlife-service-researchers-killed-in/article_ed2863f4-f5bc-11e2-a53c-0019bb2963f4.html.
“Two Fish and Wildlife employees struck by car, killed in South Dakota.” InForum, 9 July 2013, www.inforum.com/newsmd/two-fish-and-wildlife-employees-struck-by-car-killed-in-south-dakota.
“Two Fish and Wildlife employees struck by car, killed in S.D.” The Jamestown Sun, 10 July 2013, www.jamestownsun.com/news/two-fish-and-wildlife-employees-struck-by-car-killed-in-s-d.