Obit: Burchell, Paul R. (? - 1961)

Contact: Dolores Mohr Kenyon

Email: dolores@wiclarkcountyhistory.org

Surnames: Burchell, Shriver, Zerbel, Schuld, Van Kirk, Noble

----Source: Clark County Press (Neillsville, Clark Co., WI.) April 6, 1961

Burchell, Paul R. (? - 2 April 1961)

Funeral services will be held at 2 p.m. Friday from the Methodist Church in Humbird for Paul R. Burchell, 34, of Rt. 1 Humbird, who was killed instantly when his car overturned a mile east of Merrillan at 1:17 a.m. Sunday.

The Rev. Richard Shriver will be in charge and burial will be made in the Mentor town Cemetery. Arrangements are being made by the Jensen Funeral Home at Hixton, where friends may call all day today (Thursday) .

Burchell suffered a broken neck when his car went out of control after rounding a curve on County K as he was returning home from a dance at Hatfield.  Two companions, Art Zerbel, 39, and Marvin Schuld, 29, both of Humbird, suffered minor injuries.  Schuld had a dislocated shoulder.

Calvin Van Kirk, also of Humbird, was the first on the scene and took Zerbel and Schuld to the hospital in Black River Falls for treatment.  He said that the car driven by Burchell had passed his car shortly before the accident.

The car apparently went onto the soft shoulder and was flipped as it went out of control.  It landed on its top, and the top on the driver’s side was crushed.

Dr. Noble, Jackson County coroner, called the death accidental, and said that no inquest would be held.  Burchell was the third person to lose his life in an automobile accident in Jackson County this year.

Burchell was not married.  He lived with his parents, Mr. and Mrs. John Burchell.  Also surviving in the immediate family are two brothers, Merle of Osseo and Clarence, who is with the armed forces in Africa.