Obit: Dearth, Lonnie #4 (1943 - 1958)

Contact: Stan
Email: stan@wiclarkcountyhistory.org

Surnames: Dearth, Schaller, Wanish, Abel, Edblom, Cook

----Source: OWEN ENTERPRISE (Owen, Clark County, Wis.) 10/16/1958

Dearth, Lonnie #4 (5 APR 1943 - 13 OCT 1958)

A substitute carrier boy for the Marshfield News Herald, making deliveries to the last two customers on his route, was killed instantly shortly after 6:00 o’clock Monday night when a car struck a bicycle he was riding.

The victim was Lonnie Dearth, 15, son of Mr. and Frank Dearth, Unity, and former Owen (Clark Co., Wis.) residents.  A Colby physician pronounce him dead of a broken neck.

Dirver of the car was Vernon Wanish, 21, Abbotsford school faculty member, who makes his home here with an uncle and aunt, Mr. and Mrs. John Schaller.

A companion of young Dearth, Dan Abel, 15, also of Unity, trailing on another bicycle, was unhurt.

The accident occurred on the east side of Highway 13, about a half mile north of Unity at the edge of the village, where Dearth was on his way to make his last two newspaper deliveries of the day to the Feit and Johnson homes.

Both boys were going north at the time, with Dearth on the lead bicycle.  Wanish, approaching from behind, told authorities he saw the Abel boy as he appeared to emerge from a driveway toward the road, but did not see Dearth on ahead riding on the edge of the pavement.

Marathon County Traffic officer William Schuett, who investigated the accident, said the Dearth youth’s body was dragged and thrown to the side of the road about 125 feet from the point of impact.  Speed of the Wanish car at the time was placed at about 50 miles an hour.

A further investigation of the circumstances surrounding the accident is being made.  Marathon County authorities said Unity is one of the villages north of Marshfield which is situated on the county line between Marathon and Clark.  The mishap occurred in the Marathon County segment.  So far, no inquest has been ordered.

Funeral services for Lonnie were held in Trinity Lutheran Church at Unity, Wisconsin at 2:00 p.m. Thursday with the Rev. Robert Langseth officiating.  Burial was made in the church cemetery.

Lonnie was born at Owen April 5, 1943, and was three years of age when his parents moved to Unity.  He attended Unity Elementary School and was a sophomore at Colby Union Free High School, where he had been active in football and basketball.

He was a member of the Luther League of Trinity Lutheran Church, and had been a substitute newspaper carrier boy in Unity for the past year.

He shared responsibility for delivery of newspapers in the community with Terry Cook.  Monday night he had been traveling his route later than usual because of football activities, which delayed his return from school.  It was his custom to start deliveries about 4:00 o’clock, shortly after the daily consignment of papers reaches the village by truck.

Lonnie’s survivors are his parents; one sister, Betty, 7, a third grad student at Unity Elementary School; his maternal grandparents, Mr. and Mrs. Clarence Edblom, whose home adjoins that of the Dearths, and his paternal grandmother, Mrs. J.A. Dearth, Owen.

The father is an employee of the Colby Milling Co.

Lonnie’s death brought the 1958 highway traffic toll in Marathon county to 16.

Trinity Lutheran Church at Unity, Wisconsin