A funeral was held Wednesday for a former ISU graduate student who died from injuries sustained in an automobile accident north of Altoona.

Kimberly Sue Stratton, 30, was driving on Highway 65 June 15, when Kraig Kane of Altoona ran a stop sign while driving about 55 miles per hour, said Randy Tobey, deputy sheriff of Polk County.

Tobey said Kane’s car collided with Stratton’s as he drove through the intersection.

Stratton was airlifted to Iowa Methodist Hospital in Des Moines where she died from injuries.

Tobey said the accident is still under investigation.

Stratton received her bachelor’s degree from the University of Northern Iowa and worked on her master’s degree in journalism and mass communication at Iowa State from 1994 to late 1995.

“She was a very outgoing kind of person,” said Eric Abbott, ISU professor of journalism and Stratton’s former adviser.

Abbott said Stratton was an “A student” when she decided to quit her master’s program to work for the Fire Service Institute at Iowa State.

“She started out there as a research assistant,” he said. “They liked her so much they offered her a job.”

Abbott said Stratton enjoyed her work as a communications specialist at Fire Service.

John Donnelly, one of Stratton’s co-workers at Fire Service Institute, called Stratton a very creative person.

“She didn’t know how to say ‘no’ when someone needed something,” Donnelly said.

He said she was known to head to work at 2 or 3 in the morning if she had an idea.

“She was a very dedicated, energetic person,” Donnelly said. “She had a lot of patience with people.”

Stratton was born Aug. 11, 1969, in Cedar Falls, the daughter of Gary and Maxine [Horness] Stratton.

She is survived by her parents; two brothers, Galen Stratton of Williamsburg and Garrett Stratton of Altoona; her sister, Karmin Stratton of Hudson; her paternal grandparents, Galen and Lois Stratton of Ames and her close friend, Troy Walker of West Des Moines.

Stratton was preceded in death by her maternal grandparents, Haakon and Elizabeth Horness.

Funeral services were held Wednesday at St. Timothy Lutheran Church in Hudson, and a memorial service was held Tuesday at Dahl-Van Hove-Scoof Funeral Home in Cedar Falls.

A memorial fund will be established at a later date.