John COLLISTER

COLLISTER, REESE, FABER, LINDSAY, JONKER, HUTCHINSON, SHIRE, JONES, PHALEN, SWAN, WALLACE, MCCLINTOCK, BUCHANAN, PALENYK, RISACHER, BROWER, RUGLAND, BOYCE, SHENFELTER, IVERSEN, CARLTON, MINOR

Posted By: Sharon R Becker (email)
Date: 5/23/2012 at 16:35:04

The Globe Gazette
Mason City, Cerro Gordo County, Iowa
Wednesday, March 17, 1937, Page 16

Winners Announced in Good Eyesight Contest

Winners in the essay constest on "The Importance of Good Eyesight," sponsored by the People's Gas and Electric company, were announded by the judges of the competition Tuesday.

John COLLISTER, junior college student from Plymouth . . . awarded special I.E.S. study lamps for [his] superior essay. The judges in the contest remarked on the execptionally high quality of the essays submitted.

The I.E.S. study lamps are the result of years of exhaustive research in lighting principles conducted by the Illuminative Engineery society. They are especially designed for study purposes.

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The Globe Gazette
Mason City, Cerro Gordo County, Iowa
Saturday, May 29, 1937, Page 1

HUNT PLYMOUTH YOUTH'S BODY
COLLISTER, 20, LOSES LIFE IN FLOODED RIVER

Officers, Firemen Serching Waters
of Shell ROck Below WPA Dam.

By STAFF REPRESENTATIVE

PLYMOUTH - Every available officer and fireman in Cerro Gordo county, aided by Iowa Highway Patrolmen Bob REESE and Ed FABER and many eager volunteers continued their efforts Saturday to recover the boy of 20-year-old John COLLISTER, son of Plymouth's Methodist minister, from the turgid waters of the usually peaceful Shell Rock river below the WPA dam at the northeast edge of the town.

Since Friday night, shortly after 7 o'clock, when the youth's father, the Rev. T. C. COLLISTER, and his brother Vannon, 18, saw him lose a 10 minute battle with the surging undertow underneath the dam and go down for the last time, Mason City firemen and volunteers, aided by men on either side of the dam and below it, have been probing the swift currents and the river's bottom in their search for the boy's body.

Powerful Undertow.

Treacherous eddies in the swirling water between the dam and the Milwaukee railroad trestle, 50 yards downstream, made the searchers' work doubly difficult.

Throughout the night, the crews clung to the theory that the backlash of the water after it raced over the dam - the same backlash which proved too strong for the youth to overcome after he had jumped downstream from the dam - was pinning his body close to the base of the dam.

However, late Saturday morning, after an exhaustive search of more than 12 hours near the base of the dam had failed to reveal the body, a 150 pound live pig was pushed over the dam at the spot where the COLLISTER boy was last seen. A bouy was attached to the pig at the end of an eight foot length of rope.

Hog Carried Downstream.

Officers watched the hog plunge beneath the surface, apparently pulled down by the sharp undertow, but a few seconds later the struggling porker appears about 20 feet downstream and was carried several yards further by the current before it was picked up and brought to shore, little the worse for the ducking.

The course taken by the hog supported the searchers' belief that John COLLISTER'S body was washed on down the river through drag lines and another dam toward Rock Falls.

Workers dragged lower stretches of the stream Saturday afternoon, working north to a point about a mile and a half below the dam where the boy drowned.

The mile and a half below the dam was dragged Saturday morning.

River Nears Flood-Stage.

Fully four feet higher than its normal level, the Shell Rock was pouring over the dam with such force that some of the current flowed over and ouside the wing at the side of the dam nearest the town.

Rescue parties were unable to launch a raft made of two inch planks reinforced by stout cross sections until four large oil drums were obtained and fastened to each corner of the craft.

In Working the raft back and forth below the dam, the efforts of more than a score of men on each side of the river were required to manipulate the two inch guy ropes and hold the craft up into the current.

Searchlights are Used.

Large searchlights, brought to the scene by the Mason City fire deparment's salvage truck, played over the muddy, foaming current while police and sheriff officers and firemen worked Friday night and before dawn Saturday.

The COLLISTER boy, accompanied by his two brothers, Wilbur, 14, and Vannon, had decided to take a quick swim before eating supper at their home less than three blocks from the dam.

John and Vannon, Freshmen at Mason City junior college, had been playing tennis after school Friday afternoon, and their little brother joined them in the swim.

After playing about in the water above the dam a few minutes, the boys plunged in below the dam. Then John, described by his father as a fine, strapping fellow but inclinded too much toward daring and headstrong actions, climbed out and went above the dam, followed by his brothers.

Drifts Toward Dam.

While Vannon remained back a few yards in safety, John drifted down twoard the dam and held [Page 2] himself on the barrier. His 14 year old brother followed suit.

"Then John jumped in below the dam," a drop of about three or four fee, Wilbur related, "and began to try to swim twoard shore, away from the dam. The current seemed to get hold of him, though, and he went beneath the surface and then bobbed up again, two or three times, he seemed to be tiring.

"Just then, the current swept me over the dam, and I don't remember much from then until I bumped against the cement piling of the railroad trestle. From there I made for shore and came back to the dame where they were looking for John. I think I must have been knocked unconscious when I went over the dam," young Wilbur told a reporter.

Runs for Help.

Meanwhile, the third brother, Vannon, seeing that he would be unable to help without a rope, told John to hold out as long as he could and ran to the COLLISTER house.

The Reverend COLLISTER gave Vannon the automobile keys and the boy grabbed a rope, raced back to the dam and was trying to get the rope within John's reach when their father arrived at the scene.

John, a strong swimmer and a fine all-around athlete, was obviously weakening and becoming less and less capable of fighting off the buffeting currents. Vannon was unable to get the rope within reach of his brother, and his father called to him to swim back from the dam before he too was carried over.

Catch Last Glimpse.

The last they saw of the fighting youth was a brief instant when, after being under the surface for several seconds, just his head appeared above the water, about two or three feet out from the base of the dam and a third of the way across from the town side of the river.

By that time young Wilbur was also back at the scene.

The Reverend COLLISTER, father of five other sons besides John and two daughters, was at the river's edge all night directing and doing what he could in assisting the workers.

Another son, Lauress, a junior at Iowa State college [present-day Iowa State University], left Ames Friday night to come home.

Finding against the base of the dam of a piece of rope which had beenused in one of the first rescue attempts Friday night had strengthened the theory that the body might have remained beneath the dam, yeat painstaking work with the pike poles failed to reveal any trace.

Firemen Aid Search.

Acting Lieut. Lester J. LINDSAY, Fireman First Class Harold HUTCHINSON and Fourth Class Fireman Carl JONKER comprised the crew sent with the salvage company by Chief Dan SHIRE of the Mason City fire department.

Chief SHIRE made clear that the firemen were sent to the scene despite the fact that there was no hope of recovering the body with the equipment available. They were sent in answer to a request for lights to facilitate the work of the men already on the scene. After their arrival the firemen did everything they could with the means available in their efforts to find the body.

Lee JONES, Mason Cityan who followed the salvage truck to Plymouth, worked with Lieutenant LINDSAY on the raft throughout most of the night.

Large Crowd Gathers.

So swift was the current that one man was forced to stand at the rear of the raft, in order to balance it while the other worked with the pike pole.

Early Saturday morning boats arrived from Clear Lake to replace the raft.

As many as 500 persons lined the stream during the forepart of Friday night, watching the work and offering their services willingly.

Included among the officers aiding the search were Sheriff Tim PHALEN, Deputies Dal DWAN, John WALLACE and Stan McCLINTOCK, Police Officers Jim BUCHANAN, Bill PALENYK and Capt. Leo F. RISACHER.

[Page 12]

EDITORIAL - SOMETHING SHOULD BE DONE
While North Iowa followed efforts of workers seraching Shell Rock river for the body of young John COLLISTER of Plymouth, Mason City police and fire department officials pointed to the fact that, due to an absolute lake of any type of equipment suitable for use in rescuing of drowning victims, even the best efforts in such cases are bound to be slow and uncertain.

With only the scanty, unsuited equipment now available for use in such emergencies, there is very little likelihood that any drowning person could ever be brought up in time to revive him, the officials declared.

Suggested by Fire Chief Dan SHIRE was the purchase of the following: A metal boat, equipped with air chambers; drag lines and marker bouys; an E. and J. resuscitator and inhalator; a diving helmet and marine light, to be used to expedite location of a body.

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The Globe Gazette
Mason City, Cerro Gordo County, Iowa
Thursday, June 03, 1937, Page 20

Arrives for Funeral.

PLYMOUTH - Verle BROWER arrived from Chicago Monday to attend the funeral of his friend, John COLLISTER, drowned in Shell Rock river.

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The Globe Gazette
Mason City, Cerro Gordo County, Iowa
Friday, June 04, 1937, Page 9

TRIBUTES TO JOHN COLLISTER

Not often does a student win such universial admiration and respect among his teachers and schoolmates as did John COLLISTER. Already at his early age he had acquired a discrimination and judgement of the value of life. _ Dean S. L. RUGLAND.

The drowning of John COLLISTER was a great shock to all. He was respected and liked by all students and faculty who knew him. He was ambitious and reliable. He was always willing to undertake any task, no matter how difficult, and gave unsparingly of his time and efforts for others. We all feel the loss of a real friend, one who will be remembered by students and faculty of M.C.H.S. and M.C.J.C. - H. H. BOYCE

The associations which I have had with John COLLISTER as his teacher have been very pleasant. Both as teacher and as friend I mourn the loss of him whose character I had found to be most admirable. His ideals were lofty Christian ones and his personality was lovable. The memory of this fine young man will always linger with me. - Harlyn ASHENFELTER

Sincerity, honesty, frankness were characteristics of John, who exemplified - "hold fast that which is good." - Ida E. IVERSEN

John's death has saddened all of us who knew him well, for by his simple friendliness he made a sure place for himself in our hearts. With the strength, the enthusiasm, and the vision of youth, he combined a mature recognition of the real values in life. John found life exceedingly interesting, as, as he himself said, he met it "with a smile and a challenge." We shall not forget John. We shall miss his eager young face, the clear eyes, and the warm smile. - Luelda CARLTON

I can certainly testify as to the high esteem in which John COLLISTER was held by his instructors in M.C.J.C. His eager interest, willing co-operation, high character, and engaging personality made him an outstanding member of the student body. I am sure that his tragic passing brings a sense of personal loss to us all. - L. L. MINOR

NOTE: John was interred at Oakwood Cemetery, Plymouth, Iowa.

Transcription by Sharon R. Becker, May of 2012

Cerro Gordo Obituaries maintained by Lynn Diemer-Mathews.
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