One of my mom's coworkers today had trouble with her wagon. She started it up, shifted into reverse, and it imediately died. In park the engine would turn over but not fire. Later her husband got it started.
First thing that comes to my mind is fuel delivery issues, and second is spark delivery.
Has anyone on here had this kind of issue with anything? TIA

 

You are on the right track, you need to check fuel and fire. Maybe before that have them see if it will start by slighly pressing the accel pedal, maybe the IAC has died but I doubt it, they will usually start then die, or idle real low. Try to see what the husband touched or messed with to get it to start. Can the fuel pump be heard when turning the key on?

If no fuel and maybe no fire and ('95 and older im guessing), check the relay box (CCRM), maybe tap on it while cranking. This is the square box on the driver side of the radiator support with about 30 wires going to it. There is also a battery ground wire connection right beside that box (2-wires I think), that ground circuit was known to corrode or become loose and cause a bad connection. If the ground was never messed with previously there will be a small 2-pin grey connector right there, I have seen the connector melt due to a bad connection too.

 

Yeah, it has those round headlights. It also has 250k-275k miles on it