News: Clark Co. – Three Persons Killed in Car Crash (Apr 1973)

Transcriber: stan@wiclarkcountyhistory.org
 
Surnames: Grambort, Weller, Kallberg, St. John, Cameron

----Source: THORP COURIER (Thorp, Clark County, Wis.) 26 Apr 1973

A traffic crash near Mellen early Easter morning took the lives of three northern Clark Co. people and injured the four occupants of the other vehicle involved.

Dead are Robert E. Grambort, 21, Abbotsford, and the passengers in his auto, Trudy A. Weller, 18, and Rebecca E. Kallberg, also 18, both of route 2, Owen.

They were reported enroute to the Ashland area on a smelt fishing expedition when the head on collision occurred at 2:30 a.m., with a southbound van operated by Darryl C. St. John, 22, Green bay, on Highway 13 about 7 ½ miles south of Mellen.

St. John and his three passengers, all of Green Bay, are members of a dance band and were heading back to Green Bay after playing an engagement in Ashland when the crash took place.

Coroner Donald Cameron, Ashland, said that all three traffic victims died of extensive skull fractures. He said that the crash occurred in the southbound lane and skid marks indicated the driver of the van had veered to the right edge of his lane in a fruitless effort to avoid the smashup.

The Grambort car was demolished; the van rolled over and came to a halt on its side on the highway.