Obit: Govek, Frank Anthony (1947 - 1964)

Contact: Dolores (Mohr) Kenyon

Email: dolores@wiclarkcountyhistory.org

Surnames: Govek, Johnson, Nikolai, Lato, Barr, Bertz Masliewicz

----Source: Clark County Press (Neillsville, Clark Co., WI.) July 2, 1964

Govek, Frank Anthony (3 February 1947 - 28 June 1964)

Services for young Govek were to be held at 9 a.m. today (Thursday) from the Hill Funeral Home in Greenwood, and at 10 a.m. from the Holy Family Catholic Church in Willard, with the Rev. William Nikolai in charge. Burial will be made in the parish cemetery.

Frank Anthony Govek, who would have been a senior in Greenwood High School in the fall, was born February 3, 1947, in Milwaukee to Frank L. and Margaret (Johnson) Govek. He came with his parents to rural Willard in 1950, and attended the Rocky Run School.

Besides his parents, he is survived by two sisters, Mary Ruth and Carol Ann, and by two brothers, John and William, all at home; and by his maternal grandfather, George H. Johnson of Pensacola, Fla.

A pall fell over an estimated 2,000 people who had gathered at Rock Dam Park Sunday afternoon with the drowning of David Lato, 14-year-old son of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Lato of Chicago, about 12:20 p.m.  It became leaden with the death of Frank A. Govek, 17-year-old son of Mr. and Mrs. Frank L. Govek of Rt. 1, Willard, about an hour and 20 minutes after the recovery of the Lato boy’s body. 

On their way back to Chicago after visiting at the Joe Lato home in rural Thorp, the Lato family had stopped for a picnic enroute.  Members of the family wee in a row boat when David, a non-swimmer, stepped into a hole about 75 feet away.

Swimmers in the area dove for him, but without success.  It was an hour and 15 minutes later that Larry Barr of Greenwood and others recovered the body with the aid of grappling hooks. 

The Thorp ambulance had scarcely returned to that city, and Officer David Bertz of the County Highway Patrol was still on the grounds when the alarm was spread that Govek had gone under.  He had been swimming with a brother, John, and two other friends when he apparently was seized by a cramp.  His companions spread the alarm, and a number of swimmers quickly joined the search.  The body was brought to the surface about 15 minutes later.

Funeral services for young Lato were held from St. Hedwig’s Catholic Church in rural Thorp Tuesday morning, with the Rev. Ed Masliewicz in charge.  Burial was made in the Thorp Catholic Cemetery.