----Source: Colby Phonograph (Colby, Wis.) 11/18/1926

Gocha, James A. (7 SEP 1876 - 13 NOV 1926)

James A. Gocha, formerly of Colby, Wis., was instantly killed, last Saturday, in an automobile collision on state highway 66, about two and one-half miles northwest of Stevens Point, Wis. John Van Order, who was driving the car with which the Gocha automobile collided, was internally injured and was taken to the Stevens Point Hospital, but death claimed him the following day.

A the place of the accident, the traveled highway runs to the right of center of the road. Gocha was driving on the right side of the road. The approaching automobile, it is stated, was coming on the left side of the road and the belief is that Gocha believed the driver was not going to turn to his own proper side of the road, so swung his car to the left. The other driver turned at the same instant and before either could stop the cars came together with a crash, both being almost completely wrecked.

James A. Gocha, whose family lives at Wausau, was born Sept. 7, 1876 in Watertown, Iowa, and had been a resident of Wausau eighteen years and of Colby several years. At the time of his death, he was employed as a timber inspector by the Wheeler-Timlia Lumber Co. of Wausau.

Surviving are his widow and one daughter, Dorothy May of Wausau; one brother, George Gocha of Greenwood, Clark County, and two half-brothers, Harvey Summer of Washington and Nick Summer of California; two sisters, Mrs. George Roohr of Colby and Mrs. Mary Smith of Excellent, Wis.; and his mother, who lives at Omenia, Minn. The deceased was a member of the Loyal Order of Moose.