BEENKEN, Dennis R. 1954-1972

BEENKEN

Posted By: Tammy (email)
Date: 1/26/2022 at 20:32:53

Morrison Youth Killed In Car-Train Crash

Countian Killed In Lincoln Car, Train Collision

A 17-year-old Grundy county youth was killed and a companion injured when the car in which they were riding collided with a slow moving freight train at the southwest edge of Lincoln at 10:20 p.m. Sunday.

Dead at the scene was Dennis Ray Beenken, son of the Herman Beenkens of rural Morrison. He was Tama county's first traffic fatality of the year.

Beenken was a passenger in a 1965 Ford driven by Michael Lee Porro, also 17, the son of the Peter Porros of Reinbeck.

Porro was taken by ambulance to the Grundy County Memorial Hospital for emergency treatment, and then was transferred to Schoitz Memorial Hospital in Waterloo. He suffered severe head lacerations, a fractured right leg and body bruises.

According to Tama county authorities, the Porro vehicle was east bound on the blacktop road entering Lincoln when it struck a northbound Chicago and North Western freight train. John Findley, 32, of Norwalk, was the engineer of the train.

There is no warning light at the crossing.

The car crashed head-on into the train, demolishing the front end, and then was dragged a short distance down the right-of-way. The secondary impact ripped open the passenger side of the vehicle.

Funeral services for Dennis Ray Beenken were held at 2 p.m. Wednesday at the United Church of Christ, Reinbeck, with the Rev. John Syster officiating. Burial was in the Washington township cemetery.

The deceased was born July 9, 1954, and attended Reinbeck Community high school at the time of his death.

Survivors include his parents; one sister, Sandra; two brothers, Danny and Rodney; and grandparents, Mr. and Mrs. Luitjen Beenken Sr. of Morrison.

--The Grundy Register (Grundy Center, Iowa), 17 February 1972, pg 1