Santa’s Lane, perhaps one of Vicksburg’s most festive holiday sites, was dark Christmas Eve after one of its creators died at a Jackson hospital the night before after an industrial accident.

Lester Grant, who had retired from Falco Lime, was nonetheless at the company’s Vicksburg harbor site on Monday working part time. As a jammed chain holding a barge was freed, it struck Grant in the head, Warren County Coroner John Thomason said.

Grant was pronounced dead at University Medical Center 10 hours after the 9:30 a.m. accident. He was 68.

“From all indications, it was unavoidable,” Thomason said, noting an autopsy was planned for this evening at Mississippi Mortuary Services in Pearl.

Officials at Falco Lime could not be reached.

Grant, who had retired 11 months ago as plant manager, was supervising a group of workers at the 1543 Haining Road facility. Thomason said they were trying to free a barge that was bound by a length of chain and that the chain recoiled when it was cut free. Grant was taken first to River Region Medical Center and then flown to UMC.

Santa’s Lane is the name given to the drive that Grant and his wife, Jackie M. Grant, created in their driveway and on an adjacent piece of property on Freetown Road.

Annually for 17 years, Santa’s Lane has been a holiday attraction that drew hundreds of carloads of visitors to see the careful arrangements of cartoon and other characters, carefully cut from plywood, painted and arranged into lighted scenes.

In this year’s story about Santa’s Lane, Grant pointed out that some characters would be missing. He and his wife insisted on perfection, and those that had become weathered or faded, he said, would be kept out of the display until they could be restored.

Not just at Christmas, but year-around, Grant was a “great neighbor,” said attorney and former District 5 Supervisor Petesy Smith. “I’ve known him for 38 years, and he’s simply the best kind of caring friend a person could have,” she said.

He was also an active licensed amateur radio operator and owned and maintained one of several amateur radio repeaters in the Vicksburg area.

Grant was preceded in death by his parents, Lawrence H. and Lula M. Grant, and two brothers, Lawrence Grant Jr. and Ervin Grant.

In addition to his wife, Grant is survived by two daughters, Terri Ulmer of Vicksburg and Kim Matthews of New York City; two grandchildren, Ian and Andrew Ulmer, both of Vicksburg; five brothers, James, Clarence and Jerry Grant, all of Rolling Fork, Charles Grant of Vicksburg and Joe Grant of Kilmichael; and a sister, Lenora Burnette of Irvington, Ala.

Funeral arrangements were incomplete with Riles Funeral Home in charge.