An autopsy last week confirmed that a 63-year-old Ridgeland woman died after being struck by a tree branch in her yard during a severe thunderstorm.
Rita Elizabeth Lowther Rogers was declared dead July 12 at Coastal Carolina Medical Center after emergency crews were called to her Bees Creek Road home and found her on the ground.
A fallen branch broke numerous ribs and the woman's back, said Jasper County Coroner Martin Sauls. She died of blunt force trauma, he said.
Rogers was a native of Ridgeland with numerous family members living in the area.
She was a registered nurse and the former director of nursing at Ridgeland Nursing Center.
Witnesses saw her walking in her yard shortly before the storm, which downed tree limbs and sparked power outages throughout Jasper County. The same line of storms led four people to be struck by lightning in Pooler and one in Charleston, but all survived.
Neighbors saw Rogers lying in her yard after the storm and called for help.
Rogers, an avid hunter of Civil War memorabilia, was a mother and grandmother and has five brothers and two sisters in Ridgeland. She has two daughters in Bluffton and one in Savannah.
Her funeral was held Saturday at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in Ridgeland. Sauls Funeral Home of Ridgeland handled arrangements.