Mother of three less than a mile from home when accident occurred.

A Vicksburg woman grieving the death of her father hours earlier was killed Sunday afternoon in a head-on collision less than a mile from her own home on Mississippi 27.

Heidi Stewart Whitley, 33, 4090 Mississippi 27, was pronounced dead by Warren County Deputy Coroner Larry Chisley at River Region Medical Center shortly after the 2 p.m. wreck.

Chisley said Whitley suffered injuries to her head and body. He ordered an autopsy performed.

Her father, Dave M. Stewart Jr., had died at 3:30 a.m. Sunday at River Region Medical Center.

Barbara Samuell of Holly Springs this morning talked about her father and her sister.

She described her father, a former U.S. Army Corps of Engineers employee, as &#8220smart” and a &#8220stern Catholic.”

Her sister, Samuell said, &#8220had a heart as big as the United States.”

Samuell said her sister was &#8220the baby of the family, so she and Daddy had a special relationship.”

She also said Whitley, the mother of three children ages 9, 10 and 11, &#8220got Daddy’s brain.”

Whitley’s wreck happened as she drove south on Mississippi 27 in a 1996 Buick and veered into the northbound lane south of the Tingleville Store site, said Mississippi Highway Patrol spokesman Sgt. James Walker.

A witness to the wreck was on a cell phone with authorities reporting that Whitely’s car was being driven &#8220erratically” when the car struck a 1994 Dodge pickup driven by George Brown, 36, 320 Countryside Road, said Warren County Sheriff Martin Pace.

&#8220The witness was on the phone with 911 when the wreck occurred,” he said.

Brown was treated and released from River Region Medical Center, a spokesman said.

Samuell said her father’s death less than 12 hours earlier had been extremely hard on her sister, who was still grieving the death of her mother, Carol Green, who died 11 years ago.

&#8220Heidi took it very hard,” she said. &#8220Over the years, she’s had trouble coping with it.”

Riles Funeral Home has charge of arrangements for Stewart and Whitley.

Chisley said the autopsy will be performed on Whitley at Mississippi Mortuary in Pearl tonight.

The accident was the fourth fatal wreck in Warren County this year.