Obit: Dearth, Lonnie #3 (1943 - 1958)

Contact: stan@wiclarkcountyhistory.org

Surnames: Dearth, Wanish, Abel, Edblom, Schaller 
 

----Source: Abbotsford Tribune (Abbotsford, Clark County, Wis.) 10/16/1958 
 

Dearth, Lonnie (5 Apr. 1943 - 13 Oct. 1958) 
 

Marathon county added another fatality to this year’s highway toll of 16 in the instantaneous death of Lonnie Dearth, 15, of Unity, which occurred Monday evening shortly after 6:00 o’clock. The accident occurred on the east side of Highway 13, about one half mile north of Unity, where Lonnie, a substitute Marshfield News-Herald carrier boy, was on his bicycle, making his last two deliveries of the day. Driver of the car which struck the bicycle was Vernon Wanish, 21, of Catawba, a member of the Abbotsford school faculty, who makes his home at Unity with his uncle and aunt, Mr. and Mrs. John Schaller. 
 

A companion of Lonnie Dearth, also of Unity, who was trailing on another bicycle, was unhurt. 
 

Mr. Wanish, who teaches the seventh grade here, was on his way to attend a dinner which the Chamber of Commerce was giving in honor of the Abbotsford faculty members. After the accident, Mr. Wanish told authorities he saw the Abel boy as he appeared to emerge from a driveway toward the road but did not see Dearth on the road ahead. 
 

Lonnie was a sophomore at the Colby high school where he was active in both football and basket ball. He was traveling his paper route later than usual because football activities delayed his return from school. 
 

Lonnie is survived by his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Frank Dearth, a sister, Betty, 7; his maternal grand parents, Mr. and Mrs. Clarence Edblom, Unity, and his paternal grand mother, Mrs. J. A. Dearth, Owen.