Staff Writer

Bill Prince says he didn't want his wife, Carol, to go by herself on a lawn cutting job in Chester County Tuesday.

“We said goodbye at the front door,” he said. “I wanted her to wait and I would help her. She said, ‘No, it's flat and I'll be fine.'”

But something went wrong, and a Great Dane lawn mower flipped over on 58-year-old Mrs. Prince. She was found dead around 2 p.m. in the yard of a home on 9109 Lockhart Highway (S.C. 49). The accident site is two or three miles above Lockhart and about a half a mile from the York County line.

Chester County Deputy Coroner Tommy Williams said it appears Mrs. Prince was going up an incline and the lawn mower turned over.

“It was a freak accident,” he said. “Just a bad thing. The lawn mower was on top of her. There were a lot of hills in that backyard.”

Williams said Mrs. Prince, who lived on 723 Old Pump Station Road in Union, died of head and neck injuries.

Prince said his wife had operated Special Touch Services for 27 years.

“It was really her business; I helped her when I retired from Torrington,” he said. “It was something we both loved to do. We loved to see pretty lawns. Yesterday was one of the few times I didn't go with her to the same site.”

Prince said he had gone to a cattle sale, and then began calling his wife's cell phone to check on her.

“I called every 15 minutes until three o'clock when I went to pick up our grandchild at school,” he said. “Then I got a call that there had been an accident and we needed to come over there. They wouldn't tell us anything. I saw the coroner's van and I knew something bad had happened. They wouldn't let us back there to see her.”

Prince said he was told a neighbor heard the lawn mower making a strange noise and called 911.

Williams said he was not sure who found Mrs. Prince.

Prince said there aren't adequate words to describe his wife, to whom he would have been married 39 years on June 30. The Princes have two children, Bonnie and Will.

“We were talking about our anniversary and how nice everything had been,” he said. “She was my dear friend.”

Mrs. Prince was pictured in The Union Daily Times on May 12 after participating in the Union County Humane Society Animal Show. Prince said they both loved animals and at times had given shelter to as many as 40 dogs and cats.

“She would bring a sick one home and nurse it back to health,” he said. “She was a rare and special person.”