Joann Garrett

A 22-month-old East Mead Township child died Tuesday morning at City Hospital of injuries received in a fall down cellar steps at her home a few hours earlier.

Dr. Daniel Maloney, county coroner, said JoAnn Garrett, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Andrew Garrett, Jr., died as a result of severely lacerated throat.  Both the main throat artery and vein were severed, he said.  It was ruled an accidental death.

The coroner said the child reportedly had not been sleeping well and apparently woke up some time about 3:30 AM and wandered around her home in Meadville.

Somehow, she opened the cellar door and toppled down the steps.  She hit a bottle at the bottom of the stairs and it was broken.  The glass caused the throat lacerations.  She was found by her mother and taken to the hospital where she was admitted about 4 and given a blood transfusion, according to the coroner.

The child was a daughter of Andrew F. Garret, Jr. of St. Louis, MO and Mrs. Margaret Ann Neff Garrett of Meadville and was born in Meadville September 18, 1959.

Besides her parents, she is survived by two sisters, Beverly and Autumn Marie at home; her maternal grandparents, Mr. and Mrs. Fred Neff of Meadville; her paternal grandfather, Andrew Garrett, Sr. of Memphis, TN and maternal great-grandmother, Mrs. Ida Scowden of East Mead Township.

Services were held at Waid Funeral Home.

Interment was in Kiser Hill Cemetery.