George Ira Stetzel 1918-1946

STETZEL

Posted By: Georgea Clinton (email)
Date: 4/6/2011 at 10:04:41

May 16, 1946 - Carroll Times - George Stetzel, 28, son of Mr. and Mrs. Ira Stetzel, was found dead under an overturned tractor in a drainage pool at the southwest edge of Carroll late yesterday. Dr. R.J. Ferlic, Carroll county coroner, said Stetzel apparently drowned. There were no marks on his body. Dr. Ferlic termed the death accidental and said he planned no inquest. The body was taken to the Huffman Funeral home.

Stetzel was found about 6:30 p.m. by his father who had gone in search of him when he did not return home for the evening meal. He found the submerged tractor in the pool. One of the victim's feet was protruding above the water.

A wrecker was called to the scene to pull the tractor from the man's body. The pool is at least three feet deep and has a muddy bottom. It forms around the outlet of a highway culvert. The coroner said evidence indicated the tractor on which Stetzel had been riding upset as he rounded the edge of the pool in a run for a high bank leading from a field to the road. Marks indicated he had applied the brakes before the machine plunged over the bank Stetzel had been working in a 90-acre field owned by his father.

The scene of the accident is southwest of the overpass over the Chicago & North Western railway tracks on Highway No. 71. Funeral services will be at 2:30 Friday afternoon at the Methodist church and burial will be in the Carroll cemetery. The body is resting at the funeral home until the hour of the rites and may be viewed there by friends after 4 o'clock this afternoon.

George Ira Stetzel, who was born April 18, 1918, at Ross, Ia., was eight or nine years old when the family moved to Carroll. After his graduation from Carroll high school in 1936, he attended Iowa State college, Ames, where he received his degree in electrical engineering in 1942. He affiliated with Alpha Chi Rho fraternity there.

Specializing in radar work, he was placed in an essential Industry a few weeks before his graduation from college and was sent to Schenectady, N.Y., as an employe of General Electric. His work with General Electric also took him to Bridgeport, Conn., Lynn, Mass., and Syracuse, N.Y. About two years ago he transferred to the Sperry Gyroscope company at Garden City, N.Y., with which he had been associated since then. Given a three-month leave by the firm, he had come home about the first of April to assist his father at the hatchery.

Besides his parents, he leaves two brothers and three sisters, Doris, Warren, David, Janice and Norma, all of whom are home with the exception of Warren, who is flying from Cades Cove, Tenn. and will arrive tonight or tomorrow.

Ever since he was a pupil in the Carroll public schools, he had been interested in music. He played in the high school band here and was a member of Iowa State college band. He also played cornet in the Sperry Gyroscope company's orchestra at Garden City and had appeared in a concert at Carnegie hall. Another of his interests was photography many of the pictures in his collection being taken in color, in which he specialized. He was a member of the Methodist church.