Michael Spickermann 1961-1969

SPICKERMANN, STEEN

Posted By: Sharon Elijah (email)
Date: 3/24/2022 at 08:14:05

16 October 1969 - The Tipton Conservative

Michael Spickermann, 8, son of Mr. and Mrs. Warren Spickermann, was killed in a car-school bus crash at a rural intersection a mile east and a mile north of Bennett Oct. 9.

Roland Schneider, 17, Bennett high school senior, driver of the car involved in the accident, was severely injured in the accident. He recovered consciousness in a Davenport hospital Oct. 14. He received head injuries.

Ronald J. (Jack) Bauer, 34, driver of the school bus, is in satisfactory condition at a Davenport hospital with a broken pelvis.

All of the children returned to school by Oct. 14, although Rochelle Lenschow, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Delbert Lenschow, was out of school Oct. 15 for a check-up.

The accident took place between 8:10 and 8:15 a.m. Bauer had picked up the final child on his route and approached the intersection from the east. He had the option of continuing west for a mile and turning south on the Lowden blacktop or turning south for a mile and then west into Bennett on Highway 130.

Schneider, who had stopped at the Delbert Lenschow home a mile north of the scene of the accident to inquire about doing chores that night, was approaching the intersection from the north. The point of impact was approximately in the center of the intersection, officers said at the scene. The car struck the right front of the school bus, just to the rear of the right front tire.

The bus made a 180 degree turn, flipping over as it did so and came to rest on its left side in the ditch at the southwest corner of the intersection, facing east. The car was near the rear of the bus, in the ditch, and facing almost south.

Bauer was thrown through the front of the bus when the windshield popped out and was lying just in front of the hood of the bus. None of the children were thrown from the bus.

Taken from the scene of the accident to Mercy hospital, Davenport, were Mark Spickermann, 10; Rodney Howell, 6; Dennis Jepsen, 15, and Lisa Griem, 6.

Later in the day Darrell Riedesel was taken to a Davenport hospital where it was found he had a broken bone in his ankle. The ankle was placed in a cast. LaRita Griebel was also taken to a Davenport hospital Thursday afternoon when she developed a severe headache.

Final rites for Michael Shane Spickermann, 8, were held Oct. 13 at the Sheets and Son funeral home with the Rev. J. Van Mantgem officiating. Burial was in Inland cemetery, Bennett.

Pallbearers were Nyle Paper, Roy Borchers, Jeffrey Havill, Kent Timmerman, Duane Moeller and Arthur Ahrens. Mrs. Kenneth Stevens and Mr. and Mrs. Edwin Frick were in charge of flowers. Mrs. Ernest Riedesel was organist.

The son of Warren and Barbara Lucille Steen Spickermann, he was born at Davenport Oct. 5, 1961 and was a student in the second grade at the Bennett school at the time of his death.

He is survived by his parents, 2 brothers, Mitchell and Mark, and a sister, Michelle; his paternal grandmother, Mrs. Leonora Spickermann, Dixon and his maternal grandparents, Mr. and Mrs. James L. Steen, Bettendorf. He was preceded in death by his grandfather, Henry Spickermann.