Barrington police have theorized how a regular restaurant get-together by a trio of elderly sisters ended with the death of 97-year-old twins Jean Haley and Martha Williams, who apparently died of hypothermia after both fell outside Haley's Opechee Drive home on Friday night.

BARRINGTON, R.I. — The temperature had plunged into the teens Friday night, the wind chill making it feel like 4 degrees, when 97-year-old Jean Haley drove down Opechee Drive toward home with her two sisters; another dinner together drawing to a close.

Several times a week, Jean Haley, her twin, Martha Williams, and their younger sibling, 89-year-old Mary Jacobs, celebrated meals in each other's company. They were such regulars at Eats Restaurant in Seekonk, as well as The Lobster Pot and Redlefsen's in Bristol. Their presence alone often prompted admiration from staff workers.

"You would see them and think, 'Gosh, I hope I'm enjoying life like that when I'm their age,'" says Jeff Guertler, owner of Redlefsen's Rotisserie, who served the sisters for years.

"They were sweet, wonderful ladies" who seemed to enjoy the interaction with staff as much as an occasional Manhattan, he said, "really, really smart, with it, and really funny."

The dining tradition came with some habitual preparation, too.

If Jean Haley was driving, younger Mary Jacobs, who also lived in Barrington, would arrive early at her sister's brick Cape and turn her car around at the end of the dead end. That way, when they got back, she'd already be pointing out of the neighborhood and not have to turn around in the dark.

Martha Williams would pull into Jean's curved driveway and park, always leaving enough room for Jean to maneuver around her, as she drove out of the garage.

And so the cars were positioned Friday evening when tragedy arrived, says Barrington Police Chief John LaCross.

Earlier in the day, around 12:30 p.m., George Mihailides, owner of Eats, says he saw Jean Haley pull her big gray Cadillac into his parking lot along Route 6. She was alone and likely was looking to have lunch.

"She pulled in up front, where she always does," a handicap spot beside the door. But the restaurant was closed (part of a brief winter shutdown) and Mihailides waved as much to her from the window. He watched her drive off.

"They were in here two or three times a week," says Mihailides. "They'd have BLT's, a cup of soup, maybe a piece of pie."

They liked to chat with him, always light conversation, talking about the weather, the approach of Christmas, or where they were heading for supper later that evening.

It was about 8:30 p.m. Friday when LaCross says the sisters returned to Jean Haley's home on Opechee Drive, a cutting wind carving whitecaps across the nearby Barrington River.

The youngest sister told investigators that Jean had slowed to a stop in front of her house to let her out beside her parked car. Mary Jacobs slipped into the driver's seat and drove off as Jean made the slow turn into her driveway.

LaCross says investigators suspect Jean Haley might have stopped a second time, in the driveway, to let Martha Williams out beside her parked car.

There, in the dark and bitter cold, investigators now believe 97-year-old Williams fell.

Jean Haley usually pulled into her garage, leaving enough room in front so she could walk, leaning on a hand rail for support that ran along the deepest wall. The railing led into the house.

But when police rushed to the house Saturday morning, they found Jean Haley's car driven all the way in, as if hurriedly, the car's nose almost touching the interior wall. She would have had to walk behind the car to get into the house, LaCross says.

Both Jean and Martha used a cane or walker, LaCross says. Investigators believe Jean Haley saw that her twin sister had fallen and in her effort to get inside the house to call for help, she fell, too, possibly tripping on a rug.

Almost 12 hours later, around 8:10 a.m. Saturday, a neighbor across the street, familiar with the sisters' parking arrangements on dinner nights, looked out his window and saw Martha Williams' car still in the driveway.

He walked over and found Williams on the ground on the driver's side of her car.

He tried to move her, to wake her, and when he couldn't, he dialed 911 for an ambulance, says LaCross.

It was only after he hung up and looked into the garage that he saw Jean Haley on the garage floor. He called 911 a second time for another ambulance.

The twins were pronounced dead later at Rhode Island Hospital. Police believe the women died of hypothermia.

In the three days since the sisters' death, Mihailides of Eats Restaurant says many of his workers have mourned the women's passing and remarked on their vitality.

"Some people, say, 'Well I don't want to live to be 97.' But if you lived like they lived," he says, "you want to live to be 97."

— tmooney@providencejournal.com

(401) 277-7359

On Twitter: @mooneyprojo