Allen Rathjen 1944-1965

RATHJEN

Posted By: Sharon Elijah (email)
Date: 10/25/2020 at 06:59:50

25 February 1965 - The Tipton Conservative

Allen J. Rathjen, 20, was killed instantly when he fell into a portable feed mixer-grinder on the Dani Hoeper farm a mile north of Durant. The accident took place about 10:45 a.m. Feb. 18.

Rathjen was employed by the Durant Seed company, and was operating a truck alone for the first time. He had delivered a load of ground feed to the farm which is operated by Kenneth Finck and he and Finck were unloading the feed into self-feeders.

Finck told Cedar county peace officers that, when the feeder was filled, he yelled at Rathjen to shut off the machine. When there was no response he went back to the truck, which was about 20 feet away, but could not see Rathjen. Then he saw a shoe in the vent from where the feed was being ejected.

Finck shut off the truck motor at once and called for help.

It is believed that Rathjen climbed up on the machine to check the operation of the mixer while it was operating. Apparently he opened a trap door and then leaned into the hopper where he was struck by an agitator arm or fell into the hopper.

There were marks on the inside of the trap door that showed where both feet had slipped, Sheriff Richard Barden said. It is believed he was struck on the head by an agitator arm, killed him instantly.

Officers said that he was in the machine for perhaps 5 minutes.

Rathjen was born in Davenport Sept. 23, 1944 and graduated from Durant high school in 1963 where he was active in 4-H work and took part in athletics.

He is survived by his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Ferdinand Rathjen, 2 brothers, Leon and Gene, both at home and his paternal grandfather, Adolph Rathjen of Stockton.

Funeral services were held Feb. 22 in Davenport with burial in the Durant cemetery. His parents ask that memorial contributions be made to the Durant high school athletic fund.