Allan Duffe

DUFFE

Posted By: Sharon Elijah (email)
Date: 10/16/2022 at 07:53:42

6 September 1973 - The Tipton Conservative

Allan Duffe, 41, Wilton, a veteran lineman for the Eastern Iowa Light and Power cooperative, was electrocuted at approximately 5:30 p.m., Monday when he came in contact with a wire carrying 7,200 volts of electricity. The accident took place at Lime City, 5 miles northwest of Wilton, and just north of the overpass over Interstate 80.

Duffe and Wilbert Stoelk, Wilton, were on emergency duty during the Labor day holiday. Shortly after 5 p.m. they received a call that a REC pole was on fire near the Clifford Smith home.

The 2 men went to the pole where a squirrel had come in contact with the "hot" wire and had diverted the power into the pole, causing it to burn. Duffe went up the pole and had used a "hot stick" to remove the squirrel.

What exactly happened in not known, but Duffe made contact with the 7,200 volt wire, apparently with his hand, and dropped part way down the pole before his safety belt caught. Stoelk climbed the pole and brought him to the ground and started artificial respiration. A call was made for an ambulance and Tipton and Muscatine units were called. Oxygen and artifical respieration were used in a vain effort to revive him.

Duffe had been a lineman-troubleman and member-service department employee for the REC for 22 years.

This is the second tragedy to strike the Duffe family in approximately 2 months. Ricky Wayne Duffe, 20, eldest son of Mr. and Mrs. Allan Duffe, was killed in a car-motorcycle accident near the Wilton interchange July 1. This is approximately 2 miles from where his father died Sept. 3.