The people of New Albany, Ind., had a heavy weight on their hearts on the morning of Nov. 20. The night before, a beloved member of the city was killed in a car accident on Highway 111. On his way back from an Indiana University Southeast function at Horseshoe Casino, 51 year-old Kevin Hammersmith was struck head-on by a drunk driver. Hammersmith was well known in the city of New Albany and Southern Indiana as a whole. Tom Millea, from Laughlin Millea Hillman architecture, worked closely with Hammersmith on the Parks Board in New Albany since 2004. He said,“That was my first year there, and Kevin had already been on (the board) for 23 years.” Hammersmith affected the lives of everyone in New Albany, whether they were aware of it or not. “He did all the park issues, and he was the director of engineering for Indiana,” Millea said. “He was on the (Parks Board) longer than anyone at the time. When we had the power outages with Hurricane Ike, when the winds tore down the power lines for Duke Energy, his real job was overseeing the engineering department and making sure everything was up and running. He worked two or three 16-hour days in a row. He came into the Parks Board meeting that night. When most people were going to sleep, he was doing all that was needed for the community.” The contributions of Hammersmith extended beyond his career. He was a member of numerous organizations in Indiana, including One Southern Indiana OSI Foundation, Community Foundation of Southern Indiana, Carnegie Center for Art and History, Clark County Communities in Schools, New Albany/Floyd County Parks, Indiana University Southeast Advisory Board, and First Savings Bank Foundation Board of Directors. One quality that stood out to friends of Hammersmith was his dedication to any work he was doing. “He did a lot of charitable contributions through the state,” Millea said. “He gave out a lot of donations for things that needed to be done around the community. He lived hard, worked hard and played hard.” Hammersmith was known around New Albany for his open-mindedness and his ability to speak what he thought very well–and he was never afraid to take on an issue that needed to be addressed. Notable was “his ability to not get bogged down by politics and address the issues head-on and do what he felt was right,” Millea said. Highway 111 in Floyd County is no stranger to accidents. The treacherous highway is one of the only ways to reach the Horseshoe Casino. According to Indiana State Police records, there were four fatal accidents between 2004 and 2009. These accidents resulted in six deaths of people driving on the highway. In April 2010, a motorcyclist was killed and seven others injured in a multi-car crash. New Albany Sherriff Darrell Mills called it one of the worst accidents he has ever seen due to the number of injuries reported. In March there was another deadly crash involving a drunk driver and a three-car accident involving an elementary school bus. Indiana State Police have been attempting to crack down on reckless driving for a few years by patrolling the road and doing frequent alcohol tests. With the closing of the Sherman Minton Bridge and increased traffic to the Horseshoe, though, traffic has been difficult to keep up with for the police. Highway 111 has claimed lives and changed many others’. Southern Indiana and New Albany especially will be very different without the dedication and sincerity of Hammersmith, who had plans for the next day that were unable to be fulfilled. Millea said, “He was excited about the chancellor (at IUS) meeting a veterinarian that he had been seeing for a while, and the Chancellor was a big horse person. She raises thoroughbreds, and he was excited about getting his veterinarian together with Dr. Patterson’s thoroughbreds on Saturday, the night he was killed.”