Obit: Verkuilen, Frank Fred (1906 - 1932)

Contact:  Stan

Surnames: Verkuilen, Van Lanen, Schultz

----Sources: OWEN ENTERPRISE (Owen, Clark County, Wis.) 01/07/1932

Verkuilen, Frank (12 Jul 1906 - 4 Jan 1932)

(Thorp Courier)

Frank Verkuilen, son of Mr. and Mrs. (former Mary Schultz) Albert Verkuilen of Athens, Wis., died at the Stanley Hospital last Monday morning at four o’clock of severe burns and other injuries suffered early Friday morning, Jan. 1st, while escaping from the burning building of John Schultz, his uncle, whom he has been assisting in his store for several months past. Mr. Schultz, who condition is not considered serious, is under a local doctor’s care at the Becker Hotel.

John Retired about eleven o’clock that evening, after attending to his furnace fire, and Frank about three, he having waited at the bus depot across the street and expecting his cousin from Milwaukee.

Both men were asleep in their bedrooms on the second floor and in the northeast part of the building. When the heat of the flames awoke them, Frank evidently delayed several minutes to pack a hand bag and then rushed through the flames down the stairway. He attempted to escape by the rear down downstairs but was cut off by flames and was forced to fight his way through them again to the front door of the building, where he broke through the glass and staggered into the Riteway Restaurant across the street.

John Schultz was driven back by the flames coming through the stairway, attempted to get to the kitchen by a trap door but smoke compelled him to try to escape by way of a front window. He could not make it and in desperation found a back window, broke it and jumped to the ground.

The store building, located on the corner of Washington and Stanley Streets, was a 30 x 60 structure. After a fire which partly destroyed it about seven years ago, the building was remodeled and tile veneered. The loss incurred is estimated at $16,000, only partly covered by insurance. The origin of the fire is unknown.

Family Notes

Frank's father, Albert Verkuilen, was born April 30, 1876 in Hollandtown, Brown, Wisconsin, the son of Johannes and Anna Maria (Van Lanen) Verkuilen.  He died April 9, 1948.  Anna Maria Van Lanen was born in Boekel, Nord Brabant, NLD, June 12, 1842.  She passed away April 22, 1919 in Worden Twp., Clark Co., Wisconsin.

1930 Federal Census, Rietbrock, Marathon, Wisconsin, enumeration district # 0044, family # 29, sheet number and letter: 2B, line # 62

Albert Verkuilen, white, married, male
father's birthplace: Holland
mother's birthplace: Holland

Household Members
Head: Albert Verkuilen M 53 (1877 Wisconsin)
Spouse: Mary Verkuilen F 49 Wisconsin
Son: Frank Verkuilen M 24 (1906 Wisconsin)
Daughter: Madaline Verkuilen F 12 Wisconsin
Daughter: Noreen Verkuilen F 7 Wisconsin
Son: Ronald Verkuilen M 5 Wisconsin

Wisconsin Birth Records

Frank Fred Verkuilen
sex: Male
birth date: Jul 1906
birthplace: Thorp, Clark Co, Wisconsin
race: White
father's name: Albert Verkuilen
father's birthplace: Collentown, Wis.
mother's name: Mary Verkuilen
mother's birthplace: Sheboygan, Wis.
indexing project (batch) number: C00309-4
system origin: Wisconsin-EASy
source film number: 1299486
reference number: vol2 p357 cn1465