Obit: Melvin, Francis (1912 - 1974)

Contact: Linda Mertens
Email: mertens@wiclarkcountyhistory.org

Source - Anna Johnson's Scrapbook

Francis Melvin (2 Feb 1912 - 23 Jul 1974)

Francis Melvin, 62, of Abbotsford, owner and operator of a concrete ready mix and block firm, was crushed to death about 3:15 p.m. beneath the wheels of a truck in a gravel pit in Maplehurst township.

The accident which claimed the life of Francis Melvin occurred about 1 ½ miles west of Taylor County Trunk DD, 4 miles south of State Highway 64.

Ken Van Rooy, 25, of Abbotsford, driver of the truck involved in the mishap, told authorities he observed Melvin through a rear vision mirror as he backed the truck toward a crushing machine. Melvin was walking toward the crusher, then disappeared from view.

Van Rooy said he figured the man had cleared the path of the moving truck. Instead, the dual wheels on the vehicle had rolled over the Melvin body, apparently causing instant death. Van Rooy said he felt a slight jolt, but attributed the disturbance to a rut in the road, but as he got out of the truck he discovered Melvin’s body on the roadway.

Funeral services for Mr. Melvin will be held Friday, with the time and place to be announced later. Burial will be made in the Abbotsford cemetery.

The body will lie in state at Polnaszek Funeral Home, Abbotsford.

Mr. Melvin was born Feb. 2, 1912, at Black River Falls, where he was educated, and was married to the former Ruth Ockerlander on May 27, 1936, at Wausau. In 1924, he moved to Owen and in 1929, came to Abbotsford.

He started in the concrete business in June, 1932. In 1946, gravel crushing and washing was added to the firm and in 1951, ready mix concrete was provided to the Medford area. In 1960, the firm started in block production and in 1964 hot mix blacktop was added. The Francis Melvin Ready Mix Incorporated now has plants in Medford, Prentice, Phillips, Abbotsford, Owen, Greenwood, Thorp and Stanley.

Mr. Melvin was a charter member and president of the Abbotsford Lions Club, member of the Abbotsford and Medford Chamber of Commerce, Medford Kiwanis Club, and the state and national Concrete Products Association.

Survivors include his wife; a daughter, Mrs. John (Bonnie) Beecher, Glasgow Air Force Base, Mont., two sons, Neal and James, both of Medford; two sisters, Mrs. Harley (Loretta) German, Owen, and Mrs. Elizabeth Hempfner, Florence, S.C., two brothers, Archie, Abbotsford, and Capt. William L. Melvin, Kansas City, Kan.; and six grandchildren.

Three sisters preceded him in death.