Obit: Schwanebeck, John (? - 1982)

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

Surnames: Schwanebeck, Rupp, Dickson, Kreifels, Meyers

----Source: Clark County Press (Neillsville, Clark Co., WI) 5/06/1982

Schwanebeck, John (? – 23 April 1982)

John Schwanebeck, 26, who has many relatives in the rural Pittsville area, died from electrocution on Friday, April 23, in Moundridge, Kansas. He was electrocuted when the auger on his feed truck contacted a 7,200-volt power line at the Central Kansas Hatchery at Moundridge.

Sgt. Gary Myers of the McPherson County Sheriff’s Department said Schwanebeck was an employee of Sun Glow Feeds of Hesston, Kansas, and was a delivering a load of feed to the hatchery when the accident occurred.

“Schwanebeck had backed his grain truck up to a grain bin at the hatchery,” Myers said. “The power line was only about four feet above the top of the bin. He was hoisting his auger when it touched the line.”

Myers said two people were working in their yards at the time, ran over and knocked Schwanebeck off his truck with a board. The line shorted out by the contact and the truck caught fire.

Funeral services were held on Monday, April 26, from a Hesston Mennonite Church. Burial was made in a Hesston Cemetery. (A memorial service was to be held this past Wednesday evening, May 5, from St. Paul’s Lutheran Church in the Town of Sherwood, Clark County.)

The deceased was born in Milwaukee. On July 18, 1981, he married Patricia Rupp. The couple were new residents to the Hesston area.

Surviving him, besides his wife, are his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Wayne Schwanebeck, Pittsville, a brother, Rick, Pittsville; grandmothers Doris Schwanebeck and Myrtle Dickson, both of Pittsville and Violette Krifels of Nebraska City, Nebraska.