Obit: Vorland, Gorton #4 (1908 - 1951)

Contact: Stan

Email: stan@wiclarkcountyhistory.org

Surnames: Vorland, Nelsen

----Source: Loyal Tribune (Loyal, Clark Co., Wis.)   06/21/1951

Vorland, Gorton #4 (14 Apr. 1908 - 11 June 1951)

Gorton Vorland, 43, Colby attorney, was found dead in his garage with a 12-gauge shotgun by his side, by his wife about midnight Monday, June 11, 1951.  Clark County Coroner John Bergeman listed the death as suicide.

Bergeman reported that Vorland had been dead from three to four hours when he examined the body at 12:30 p.m.  Sheriff Frank Dobes, District Attorney Clarence Gorsegner, and Lorris Dusso, county traffic officer helped investigate after they were called at 12:30 a.m.

Mrs. Vorland and daughter, Mary, had been in Wausau that day from 9:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. where Mary was took a dancing lesson.  Mr. Vorland was scheduled to attend a meeting of the board of directors of the Colby Chamber of Commerce that evening, which he did not attend, and, upon inquiry, could not be located.  Later, Mrs. Vorland found his shoes and noticed that his bedroom slippers were missing, so concluded that he could not be far away, and began to search for him.  She soon found his lifeless body in the garage.

Vorland had been suffering from a nervous and mental condition for the past several years and had recently returned from Madison where he had been for a physical examination.  He was a member of both the Clark and Marathon County Bar Associations, of the Colby units of the Veterans of Foreign Wars and the American Legion and the Colby Lodge F. & A.M.

Surviving are his wife, a daughter, Mary, age four, his father, Geo. Vorland of Colby, and a sister, Mrs. Georgia Nelsen of Minneapolis, Minn.

Funeral services were held Friday afternoon at 2 o’clock at the high school gym, rev. F.J. Smith officiating, and interment was made in the Colby Cemetery.