BEHRENS, George W. 1881-1947

BEHRENS

Posted By: Tammy (email)
Date: 10/28/2016 at 20:25:33

Geo. W. Behrens Killed In Truck Car Collision

Joe J. Arends Truck And Behrens Car Meet Head-On On Primary 20 West Of Cedar Falls

George W. Behrens from Cedar Falls, a former resident of Fairfield township where he still owns a farm, was killed in a head-on collision with his car and a truck owned and driven by Joe J. Arends who lives on a farm a half mile north of Stout. Behrens was 66 years old. The collision took place about noon on Friday on Primary 20 three miles west of Cedar Falls.

Behrens, who had been at his farm, was driving east on his way home. Arends was going west and his truck was loaded with cement blocks that were to be used for the walls of a factory building which Arends is having erected at Parkersburg.

A beer truck going west ahead of Arends slowed down suddenly and stopped on the highway Arends couldn't stop his heavily loaded truck in time to prevent crashing into the beer truck. There was a road obstruction that prevented him from turning out to the right. He turned to the left and he did not see the Behrens car approaching from the west in time to get out of its way and the two collided head-on. The truck jumped on to the hood of the car, taking the car motor back with it. The car and truck were locked on the highway when they came to a stop. Both drivers were alone in their cars and remained in their seats. When help came Behrens moaned a few times before he died. Death resulted from head and internal injuries. Arends escaped with an injured elbow.

The Behrens car, a 1941 Pontiac, was a complete wreck. Damage to the truck was estimated at $700.

Arends claims he was going about 40 miles an hour. The Behrens car hadn't time to slow down before the crash came. Some of the heavy cement blocks in the truck were tossed over the Behrens car.

Funeral services for Mr. Behrens were at the Dahl funeral home in Cedar Falls Sunday afternoon. Burial was in a rural cemetery in Fairfield township west of Cedar Falls.

Mr. Behrens spent his early life on his farm in Fairfield township. In 1911 he and his family moved to Cedar Falls. Since that time he was employed in the maintenance department of Iowa State Teachers College.

Surviving are the wife and one daughter, Ruth, who is a teacher of music in Waterloo East High. He has one brother John who lives in Cedar Falls.

--The Grundy Register (Grundy Center, Iowa), 25 September 1947, pg 1