Services were held Sunday for a former pastor involved in a Sept. 1 collision with a tour bus in Dawson County.

Emergency personnel said Meabon L. Sanner, 75, of Forsyth County did not regain consciousness after the pickup truck he was driving collided with a tour bus near Chick-fil-A.

Dawson County Coroner Ted Bearden said Sanner was pronounced dead several hours later at North Fulton Hospital.

Sanner, who had lived in the area for about 10 years after moving from Ohio, devoted much of his time to Bible study. According to his obituary, he also enjoyed fishing and camping and was considered a master storyteller.

Authorities said the wreck occurred as Sanner was attempting to turn left across the northbound lanes of Ga. 400. The tour bus struck his Toyota Tacoma on its passenger side.

Rickey Gooch, road manager and sound technician for Dahlonega-based gospel trio Karen Peck and New River, was driving the group’s tour bus when the collision occurred.

“Rickey tried to miss it but he couldn’t,” Karen Peck told a Georgia State Patrol trooper at the scene.

According to emergency personnel, Sanner was unconscious and unresponsive when they arrived about 10:30 a.m.

He was flown with head injuries to North Fulton Hospital in “very critical condition,” said Billy Thurmond, director of Dawson County Emergency Services.

The flight crew was en route to Atlanta Medical Center when Sanner’s conditioned worsened and made an emergency stop at North Fulton, Thurmond said.

Dawn Hughes, a passenger on the tour bus, was also injured in the wreck and taken by ambulance to Northeast Georgia Medical Center.

A note from Peck on the group’s official Web site for Karen Peck and New River listed Hughes as having broken her finger.

All lanes of the highway were closed for about an hour as crews cleared the wreckage.

The state patrol is handling the investigation.

According to the group’s Web site, Karen Peck and New River performed in Branson, Mo., on Aug. 29 and 30.

The Sept. 1 wreck was the county’s fifth traffic-related fatality of 2010.

In April, a 64-year-old Dahlonega woman died after a two-vehicle, head-on wreck near Hwy. 53 and Thompson Road.

Also that month, a 71-year-old Dawsonville man died after losing control of his vehicle and striking a tractor trailer on Hwy. 53 East, between War Hill Park and Dawson Forest roads. 

In June, a 23-year-old Dawsonville man died after his motorcycle collided with a maintenance truck pulling a trailer at the entrance of Veterans Memorial Park on Hwy. 9 North.

Later that month, a 24-year-old Cumming woman was killed after being thrown from a Jeep near the crossing of Carlisle Road and Ga. 400.