Joan Marjorie Dana Powers 1936-1970

POWERS, DANA

Posted By: Merllene Andre Bendixen (email)
Date: 2/4/2013 at 20:14:04

Saturday Rites for 2 Teachers Killed on Treacherous Road
No classes will be held in the Graettinger schools Monday in memory of the school’s two fourth grade teachers killed in an automobile accident Thursday [January 15, 1970] morning. Fourth graders in the classes of Mrs. James (Carol Jean) Petersen and Mrs. LeRoy (Joan Marjorie) Powers, both of Estherville, will not have classes today.

Services for both of the women have been scheduled for Saturday. Funeral services for Mrs. Powers will be held at 1:30 p.m. in the Estherville United Presbyterian Church. Services for Mrs. Petersen will be at 11 a.m. in the Redeemer Lutheran Church.

The two teachers were killed in a head-on collision on Highway 4, to miles south of Wallingford, as they were driving to school.

In the accident, a northbound car driven by Mrs. LaVerne (Joyce Ann) Schnell, 23, of Graettinger, apparently slid across the center line as it went over one of the dips in the road and collided with the Powers’ compact car. Authorities have not been able to question Mrs. Schnell about the accident because she is suffering from shock.

Mrs. Powers, 33, was the wife of an Iowa Lakes Community College teacher. Born April 6, 1936, at Spencer to Mr. and Mrs. Ralph Dana, she graduated from Ruthven High School in 1954 and attended the University of Northern Iowa, Cedar Falls, where she received an associate of arts degree. She was attending Mankato State College, Mankato, Minn., at the time of her death.

She was married April 3, 1954, to LeRoy Powers at Blue Earth, Minn. After their marriage, they lived in Pensacola, Fla., and at Cedar Falls where she taught school at Hudson, moving to Estherville in 1964. Mrs. Powers has taught in Graettinger for three years.

She was a member of the eastern Star, the Iowa State Education Association, and the Graettinger Teachers’ Association. She was a member of the United Presbyterian Church of Estherville. Survivors include her husband, LeRoy; three children, Timothy, 13, Tamara, 9, and Todd, 8; one brother Donald S. Dana of Fremont, Calif.; and her parents, Dr. and Mrs. Ralph Dana of Ruthven.

Funeral services will be preceded by a 1 p.m. family service in the church chapel. The Rev. H. Allen Wirtz will officiate. Burial will be in the Crown Hill Cemetery, Ruthven.

Pallbearers will be James Towell, Marion Hubers, Carl Johnson, Dennis Hageman, Roger Harms, and George Strenge.

Friends may call at the Reese-Henry Funeral Home in Estherville until noon Saturday. (Estherville Daily News, Estherville, IA, January 16, 1970)