In our July issue, I told the terribly sad story of a Memphis woman named Thelma Lloyd, who fell to her death from the top floor of the Medical Arts Building. Whether her death was a suicide or an accident was never resolved.
That column was written in response to a reader's question, who had asked for details about a suicide that (so he said) took place at the Sterick Building (right). I had never heard of such an event, and so I thought the reader was instead referring to the death of Thelma Lloyd, since the two buildings were just blocks away from each other. Easy to get them confused, I reasoned. (And I can relate to that since I am easily confused myself these days.)
But after the story on Thelma Lloyd came out, I received an email from another reader, who urged me, rather cryptically, to find the death certificate of a certain Memphis dentist. Out of respect for the family, I won't mention any names here, but you can imagine my surprise when the death certificate (available online at the Shelby County Register of Deeds website) said the location of this person's death — which took place March 7, 1961 — was the Sterick Building. Hmmm.
And the actual cause of death was quite specifically listed as a suicide.
In fact, the medical examiner had written, "Patient climbed out the window and jumped from the 7th floor."
The dentist actually had offices on the 12th floor of the Sterick Building. Why he chose to leap from the seventh floor, I have no idea. Nor do I have any idea why he ended his life in the first place.
This is a sad story, and I think this is all you need to know. Still, that first reader was correct: The Sterick Building was indeed the scene of a suicide.
