Obit: Sarafin, Scott (1964 - 1969)

Contact: Dolores (Mohr) Kenyon
E-mail: dolores@wiclarkcountyhistory.org 

Surnames: Sarafin, Hebert, Harycki, Mengel, Bertz, Lulloff

----Source: Clark County Press (Neillsville, Clark Co., WI) 7/03/1969

Sarafin, Scott (1964 - 29 June 1969)

“Who’s on duty in the north end?” The voice of Thorp’s Police Chief Ed Harycki came in at the county traffic radio headquarters in the jail at Neillsville. It was shortly after 8:40 p.m. last Sunday.

“Frank Sarafin,” replied John Hebert, department radio operator.

“Send him to the Sky club in Thorp. I need help” instructed Chief Harycki. “A boy on a bicycle has been struck by a car. I don’t know anything about it, but I guess it’s a fatality.”

Thus it was that Officer Frank Sarafin answered a fateful call which took him to the scene of a mishap only to find his youngest son, Scottie, 5, the victim.

Sarafin arrived moments after he was informed, and coincidentally with his wife, who had been notified by another son, Dale, 8, that: “Scottie has been hit by a car.”

Scottie had been killed instantly when struck by a car driven by Orville Mengel, 56, of Owen.

Riding a new miniature bicycle, a prized birthday gift from his parents two months before, Scottie had ridden out of the driveway at the root beer stand just east of the Sky Club on County Trunk X (old Highway 29), just 100 feet east of the Thorp city limits. He was following his brother, Dale, on another bicycle. Dale made it across safely, but not Scottie.

Sheriff David R. Bertz took over the investigation with Chief Harycki when it became known that the victim was the son of Officer Sarafin. He reported that Mengel had applied the brakes of his car, leaving skid marks for 75 feet along the pavement before the impact. Rain which had preceded the accident made the pavement slippery.

Coroner Robert Lulloff of Neillsville investigated and determined that the death was accidental. No inquest was scheduled, and Sheriff Bertz said that no charge would be made.

The death was the fifth on Clark County highways since January 1, 1969.

Funeral services for Scottie were held from St. Hedwig’s Catholic Church, east of Thorp, at 10 a.m. Wednesday. Burial was made in the St. Hedwig’s Cemetery. He was one of five children of the Sarafin’s.