Obit: Pieper, Reuben (1924? - 1952)
Transcriber: Stan

Surnames: Pieper, Johnson

----Source: Thorp Courier (Thorp, Clark County, Wis.) 08/28/1952

Pieper, Reuben (1924? - 23 AUG 1952)

A weekend fishing trip for a former Loyal (Clark Co., Wis.) resident ended in tragedy Saturday when Reuben Pieper, 28, Milwaukee, drowned in Rock Dam, 17 miles south of Thorp.

Pieper toppled from a boat at 11:30 a.m. and sank beneath the water while a witness watched helplessly from a cabin on shore.

The victim, who was alone in his boat, was having trouble with his motor and had to stand when trying to start it, according to the witness.

When the motor started, the board lurched, casting Pieper into the water. The accident occurred about a quarter mile off shore. Pieper sank immediately. He could not swim.

Clark County Coroner John Bergemann, in charge of the dragging operations, said searchers, just before finding the body turned up a fly rod Pieper had been using. The victim was found a short distance away, about 30 feet from the point where he fell into the water.

A woman, who saw the accident from a cabin, tried tor rescue the victim. She ran to a motorboat, but was unable to start the motor. Bergemann said another witness was in a rowboat out in the lake, but too far away to reach the youth.

The victim, son of Mr. and Mrs. Frank Pieper, Loyal, had come home several times this summer to fish, according to his parents.

He had arrived Saturday morning and left shortly afterwards for the dam.

Pieper became the 2nd drowning victim in Rock Dam this season. Duane Berrett, 19, Greenwood, drowned there July 5th.

He was married to the former Marjorie Johnson, Owen, Nov. 12, 1946. They had no children.