Nellie Mae Johnson 1893 - 1972

JOHNSON, BANNIER, SHEPARD, POGGEMILLER

Posted By: Deb (email)
Date: 1/8/2015 at 11:24:39

The Burlington Hawk-Eye

Crash brings tragic end to wedding plans

Danville (IA) -- Marriage plans for an 84-year-old Burlington man and a 78-year-old Danville woman ended tragically Saturday morning when the two were killed in a car-train collision here.

The couple, Louis W. Bannier, 1131 Franklin, and Mrs. Nellie Johnson, East Plank road, Danville, were dead on arrival at Burlington Memorial hospital shortly after the 10 a.m. crash at the Main Street crossing.

Bannier, driver of the car, pulled onto the tracks into the path of an east-bound freight while warning lights and bells were operating, witnesses told Deputy Maurice Mix.

"The car just pulled out and was hit square," one witness told Mix.

Bannier and Mrs. Johnson were thrown clear by the force of the collision that twisted the car frame 90 degrees at the middle. The car was hurled about 50 feet from the crossing and demolished.

Bannier's son said the two had planned to marry next week.

Services for Bannier are pending at Lunning chapel. He was born in December 1888, in Des Monies county. He farmed in the Yarmouth area for many years.

Surviving: A son, Louis Bannier, Jr., Yarmouth; and a daughter, Mrs. Myrtle Kauer, Burlington.

Johnson Rites

Services for Mrs. Nellie Mae Johnson will be at 2 p.m. Tuesday in Danville United Methodist church, Reverend Fred L. Trimble officiating.

She was born in Pleasant Grove February 9, 1893, the daughter of Henry and Anna Shepard Poggemiller. She married Walter Forrest Johnson in Burlington December 20, 1910; he died in 1956 (sic: 1955).

Mrs. Johnson was a member of Hawkeye Natives, Senior Citizens, and Shinar Cumberland Presbyterian church.

Surviving: Son Willis H. Johnson, Danville; daughters Mrs. Fern Gray, Danville, and Mrs. Lula Dodds, Middletown; a sister, Mrs. Marie Apple, St. Petersburg, Florida; brothers Roy Poggemiller, Burlington; Albert Poggemiller, Ft. Madison; and Glen Poggemiller, Oakville; 13 grandchildren and 20 great-grandchildren.

Burial will be in the Jaggar cemetery.