Obit: Mitchell, Kenneth (1935 - 1955)

Contact: Stan

Email: stan@wiclarkcountyhistory.org

Surnames: Mitchell, Klapperich

----Source: OWEN ENTERPRISE (Owen, Clark County, Wis.) 05/12/1955

Mitchell, Kenneth (29 JAN 1935 - 8 MAY 1955)

In what has been termed "Wisconsin’s worst traffic accident of the year," Kenneth Mitchell, 20, lost his life late Sunday evening near Lake Geneva, Wis.  Kenneth, the son of Mr. and Mrs. Woodrow Mitchell, Withee (Clark Co., Wis.), was traveling with three other companions when the car in which he was a back seat passenger collided head on with a second vehicle on a curve.

Although there were no actual witnesses to the fatal accident which occurred at 6:40 p.m. its believed that the driver of the car Mitchell was riding in was blinded by the setting sun as he rounded a curve traveling in a westerly direction.

Others who lost their lives in the crash were Carl Golembeski, 24, of Waukegan, Ill., Jerome Pickera, 19, Hurley, and driver of the car Mitchell was riding in, Charles Thompson, 20, of Hurley, Robert Vorpahel, 16, Springfield, Wis., and Edward Schenk, Jr., 17, of Lake Geneva.

Word of the tragic mishap was a blow to relatives and friends of Kenneth, who won the acclaim of his fellow students during his high school days as good "all around" guy.

Kenneth was born on Jan. 29, 1935 in the town of Edson in Chippewa Co.  In March of 1942 he moved to Withee with his parents and was graduated from high school with the class of 1953.  In high school Kenneth played four eyars of football, in 1953, being awarded a school jacket after being named the most valuable player on the team.

Since graduating he has been employed as a moulder in the Johnson Motor Works at Waukegan, Ill, for the past 21 months.

Mourning his sudden and tragic death are his parents, three brothers, Maynard, Norman and Sidney, all at home; his maternal grandmother, Mrs. Peter Klapperich of Cadott, and his paternal grandmother, Mrs. Susie Mitchell of Stanley, and a host of sympathetic friends and relatives.

The body laid in state at Hoeper and Kraut Funeral Home where a Rosary service was held Wednesday night.  Funeral services were held at 9:30 this morning from the Holy Rosary Catholic Church, Owen, with Fr. Crubel saying the requiem mass.  Burial was made at Riverside Cemetery.  Former classmates, Kenneth Mertens, James Albert, John Bonczyk, Jr., John Szymanski, James Ammentorp and Richard Niemi.