HUISMAN, Dorothy 1927-1947

HUISMAN, KADOUCE

Posted By: Tammy (email)
Date: 4/23/2014 at 11:00:04

Wellsburg Girl Dies In Car-Train Accident

Young People Were on Way Home from a Dance When a Fast Passenger Train Caught Them at a Crossing in Aplington

Dorothy Huisman, 19 year old daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Bryan Huisman of Wellsburg, was one of five young people instantly killed when the car in which they were riding was struck in the middle by an Illinois Central passenger train going 70 miles an hour about 3:30 Sunday morning. The accident happened at a railway crossing in the town of Aplington. The four other young people in the car who were killed were Howard Sessler, 19, and Kenneth Sessler, 24, from Ackley. Both of the boys were brothers, Ernestine Cuvelier, 19, from Ackley, and Richard Strahorn, 23, from Ackley.

The young people had been to a dance at Waterloo and were on the way home. With the five in the car for the evening was Bernice Ackerman, who lives a short distance north of Aplington. She had been taken home by the others in the party and escaped the fate of her five friends. It was she who identified the 5 young people who were killed. She did not learn until several hours after the accident of the tragedy that came to her friends.

Bodies Thrown From the Car
The bodies of four of the young people were thrown from the car. The other body was under some of the car wreckage. One of the bodies was found 80 feet from the track. The body of Dorothy Huisman was tossed upon a pile of gravel near a cement block plant. The car which was owned by the Sessler boys was carried about 100 feet down the track. Some of the parts of the car were tossed a distance of 250 feet. Death is believed to have been instantaneous to all of them. Dorothy Huisman's arms and legs were broken and her face was crushed in. She is believed to have been the most severely bruised.

The bodies were taken in charge of the families of the victims. Some of them were taken to Ackley, others to Aplington and Parkersburg. The body of the Wellsburg girl was taken from Parkersburg by John Doyen, Wellsburg undertaker, who prepared it for burial.

The crossing where the tragedy took place is a dangerous one. Three accidents have taken place there which cost the lives of ten people. A number of years ago a school bus was hit there and two lives were lost. On May 29 of last year three people were killed there in the daytime. They were Mrs. Tammo Kieviet, Miss Fanny Wolff and Miss Helen Hartman.

What makes the crossing extra dangerous is that there is a building used for a cement block factory on the north side of the railroad track and on the east side of the highway. The building cuts off the view form the east, leaving it impossible to see a train approaching form that direction. With six people in the car, the side windows were no doubt covered with frost which obliterated any side view.

The railroad company following previous accidents at this crossing were urged to put in signal lights, but they failed to do so. Aplington people are very much wrought up over the late tragedy and they will not rest until something is done to prevent further human slaughter at this point.

Only Sons
The Sessler boys were the only sons in the family of Mr. and Mrs. William Sessler. Howard was on furlough from the armed service and was to have returned to his post on Sunday.

Sesslers Both War Veterans
The Sessler boys were both World War II veterans. Kenneth had served with the Marines in the Pacific and in Japan. Howard was in training at Ft. Knox, Ky. Both of the boys are graduates of the Ackley high school. Aside from their parents they are survived by two sisters. A public service was held for the boys at St. John's church in Ackley Wednesday afternoon. Burial was in the Ackley cemetery.

Miss Cuvelier is the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Ernest Cuvelier from Aplington. Burial was at Aplington.

Richard Strahorn was the son of Mr. and Mrs. George Strahorn of Ackley. He was a veteran of the late war. He was buried at Ackley yesterday.

--The Grundy Register (Grundy Center, Iowa), 6 February 1947, pg 1, 12

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Dorothy Huisman's Death Shocks Friends

The many friends of Dorothy Huisman were shocked when they heard Sunday morning of her sudden death at Aplington, and the sympathy of the community goes to the relatives.

Dorothy Huisman was born in Wellsburg and she spent all of her life here. She was born on Christmas day, December 1927. She attended the Wellsburg high school and was a member of the 1946 high school graduating class. She had been employed at the Larned home in Wellsburg. Because her grandmother, Mrs. Tyle Huisman, lives alone, she had been staying at night at the grandmother's home.

The family here did not know of the tragedy which ended the lives of five young people at Aplington until about seven o'clock in the morning. They were not called sooner because the bodies of the victims had not been identified earlier.

Surviving are the father and mother, Mr. and Mrs. Bryan Huisman; three sisters, Thelma, Bonnie and Beverly, and the grandmother, Mrs. Tyle Huisman.

Funeral Services Thursday
Funeral services will be held at the home at 1 o'clock today and at 1:30 at the Reformed church, with Rev. Edward Jurgens officiating. Burial in the Shiloh cemetery.

--The Grundy Register (Grundy Center, Iowa), 6 February 1947, Wellsburg News, pg 9

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Dorothy Louise Huisman, the fourth child of Bryan and Hanna Huisman, was born the 25th of December, 1927 at Wellsburg, Iowa, and passed away February 2, 1947, at the age of 19 years, 1 month, and 7 days.

Her entire life was spent in the community of Wellsburg. She attended the Public School, both the Elementary and High School from which she was graduated last year. After her graduation from school she worked at several places in town, her last place of employement was the Herald Office.

By the Grace of God she was blest with good health. She was also privileged to receive biblical instruction in the Sunday School and the Catechetical School of the Wellsburg Reformed Church. She will be missed by the Church, which had a part in her life seeking to make known to her the way of salvation through Christ.

This span of her life was rather brief. In the very blossom of her youth, her life came to a swift close early last Sunday morning when with other friends in the same car they were struck by the Illinois Central passenger train at Aplington, resulting in the death of all the occupants.

Those who mourn her passing are her deeply bereaved parents and three sisters: Thelma, Beverly and Bonnie, all of Wellsburg; one grandfather, Mr. William Kadouce of Allison, Iowa and one grandmother, Mrs. Edith Huisman of Wellsburg and many other relatives and friends. One infant brother and one two year old sister preceded her in death.

Funeral services were held Thursday, February 6 at one o'clock at the home of her parents and later at the Wellsburg Reformed Church with the Rev. Edward Jurgens in charge. Interment was in the Shiloh Cemetery.

The casketbearers were Richard Ross, Calvin Riebkes, George Boekhoff, Melvin Freese, Paul Bakker and Clarence Heinrich. Music was furnished by Thelma Okones, Irene Knock, Josephine Gross, Phyllis Ruter, Anna Ohling, and Mildred Kuper with Marcella Neessen as organist. Flower attendants were Grace Boekhoff and Lois Nederhoff.

--The Wellsburg Herald (Wellsburg, Iowa), 6 February 1947, pg 1