A LifeStar air ambulance takes off to transport one of two critically injured victims away from the scene of a two-car, head-on collision Thursday afternoon just north of Lawrence on U.S. Highway 24-59. One person was declared dead at the scene.

A retired Kansas University psychology professor died and two other people were critically injured in a two-car, head-on collision Thursday afternoon near the Midland Junction just north of Lawrence.

Professor emeritus Paul V. Gump, 83, Oskaloosa, the driver of one of the cars, was pronounced dead at the scene.

A LifeStar helicopter was called to the head-on collision at Midland Junction, north of Lawrence on highway 24-40 Thursday afternoon.

A passenger in his car, Natalie Gump, 77, was taken to an area hospital by a LifeStar air ambulance, according to the Kansas Highway Patrol.

The driver of the second car, Vera D. Neal, 70, Williamsburg, was transported by ambulance to Lawrence Memorial Hospital, according to state troopers.

The collision happened at 1:38 p.m. on a curve about 1/4-mile south of the Midland Junction on U.S. Highway 24-59.

State troopers said Gump’s eastbound Toyota sedan went left of center and struck Neal’s westbound Mercury sedan.

A truck driver who witnessed the accident said he saw the two cars’ rear ends lift into the air after the impact.

U.S. 24-59 was closed in the accident’s vicinity while officials worked the crash. It reopened about 4:15 p.m.

For more on this story, see the 6News report at 6 p.m. and 10 p.m. on Sunflower Broadband’s channel 6 and pick up a copy of Friday’s Journal-World.