Veder Dee "Little Joe" Hempstead 1952-1959

HEMPSTEAD, FISHER, STEWART

Posted By: Merllene Andre Bendixen (email)
Date: 11/10/2011 at 23:45:53

Victor Hempstead, 50, and Son, Veder, 6, Killed in Truck Accident
Mishap Occurs on Fog-Bound Gravel Road Tuesday at 8:30 p.m.
Victor E. Hempstead, 50, who operated a pick-up service, and his son, Veder, 6, of Graettinger, were killed about 8:30 p.m. Tuesday [January 13, 1959], when their truck went off a dead-end intersection into a ditch and then burned about 10 miles northeast of Graettinger. The intersection was on the Emmet county J blacktop.

Funeral services will be held at 2 o’clock Saturday at the Sandin Fuhrman funeral home in Estherville and at 2:30 at the Calvary Baptist church in Estherville with the Rev. Leonard Huebscher, pastor of Grace Baptist church in Graettinger, officiating. Burial will be in Lake Belt cemetery near Ceylon, Minn. [burial actually in East Side Cemetery, Estherville, IA]. The Sandin Fuhrman funeral home is in charge of arrangements.

Mrs. Hempstead said that her husband had finished an extensive pickup route Tuesday evening and had been home for supper before he and his son, Veder, went to Ringsted to make an additional pickup. The truck was apparently loaded with tallow, etc., from the pickup route, as they were returning to Graettinger at the time of the accident.

Heavy fog in the area at the time is blamed for Hempstead’s failure to see the dead end in time to stop or turn. Officials of Sheriff Linn Foderberg’s office say the truck skidded 245 feet before going off the dead end and crashing into the bank.

Rescue workers were unable to remove the bodies until a wrecker arrived at the scene. Both bodies were burned beyond recognition, the sheriff reports.

The cab of the Hempstead truck was crushed completely out of shape by the weight of the loaded barrels of animal scraps and hides being hauled. The full weight of the load was thrown forward onto the cab as the front end hit the ditch embankment.

The frame of the truck was ben downward, causing sharp kinks in the heavy chassis beams which connect the front and rear of the vehicle.

The fire apparently started from the gas tank and the grease in the animal scraps added fuel to the flames. The cab part of the truck was burned out completely and the front left quarter of the box was burned away.

A portable welder with a cutting torch was dispatched to the scene but wrecker operators and rescue workers managed to pull the charred body of Hempstead from the cab before the welder arrived. However, they did not realize the boy was with his father until Mrs. Hempstead arrived at the scene.

A passing motorist discovered the burning truck and reported it to authorities.

Survivors include his wife, Vergie, and children, Virgil of Maple Hill; Vern, in the Air Force, stationed in Mississippi; Mrs. Jim (Verlene) Stewart of Butte, Montana, and Velmer and Vergene, at home. A son, Victor, Jr., was killed while riding a motorcycle in an accident near Wallingford in June, 1950. Survivors also include a brother, Russell of Jackson, Minn., and a niece, Mrs. Bob Sampson of Graettinger.

Mr. Hempstead was born in New York and after being in an orphanage later made his home with Bill Fisher near Wallingford. Mr. and Mrs. Hempstead were married Sept. 10, 1929, at Dunnell, Minn. They made their home near there for a number of years, later farming near Estherville before moving to Graettinger about four years ago.

Veder Dee Hempstead was born April 27, 1952, at Holy Family hospital. (Graettinger Times, Graettinger, IA, January 15, 1959)