Detroit Free Press , November 2, 1931 What is a worse fate than being an invalid at old Eloise? Being an invalid at Eloise and losing your family to a car accident on Halloween night. Clarence Gavitt received just that news the day after Halloween in 1931. Having been an invalid at the hospital for the previous two years his life had obviously sustained considerable tragedy. A year previous his then 9-year-old daughter Vera Helen Gavitt had been struck by an automobile at McClellan and Harper Avenues and lost he r right arm. The fatal Halloween accident occurred at the same intersection when Vera and her mother, Amy Gavitt, stepped in front of a cab. The horror of the tragedy was amplified by the fact that the mask wearing child was likely in the midst of trick-or-treating. Upon receiving news of the accident from his brother Burton, Clarence Gavitt collapsed and was reported to be near death. A friend of Vera, Marie Talley, sustained a broken leg but survived the accident.