MEINDERS, Henry 1882-1950

MEINDERS, DEVOOGD

Posted By: Patricia Morehouse (email)
Date: 1/16/2006 at 12:23:33

INVALID, 68, BURNS TO DEATH

Henry Meinders, a 68 year old invalid, apparently burned to death early yesterday afternoon at his home at 802 1/2 Conger Street, when he set fire to his wheel chair by dropping the cigar he was smoking.

He had been paralyzed from the waist down. His wife was working at the time and a son Henry, Jr., found his father unconscious in the burning chair at 8:32 p.m. He was dead from burns when firemen arrived.

Sydney Smith county coroner, said Meinders may have suffered a stroke and dropped his cigar.

He was born April 12, 1882, in Germany, the son of Herbert and Aline Meinders and came to the United States with his parents when eight years old to settle with his family in Grundy County.

He married Reka DeVoogd, October 22, 1913 and in 1929 moved to Waterloo, where he worked at the Waterloo John Deere Tractor Works for 18 years until he retired in 1947 because of ill health.

He is survived by his wife, at home; two sons, Henry Jr., of 808 1/2 Conger Street and Richard , 208 Linden Avenue; two daughters, Mrs. Arline Snoderly, Route 5, and Mrs. Trena Reuter, Shell Rock; three grandchildren; his mother Mrs. Herbert Meinders , Cedar Falls, five brothers; Heiko, Herman, Mike, Theodore and Richard all of Cedar Falls, and two sisters, Mrs. Reka Chapman of Storm Lake, and Mrs, Christina Beckman, 218 Lincoln Street.

The body is at O'Keefe and Towne Funeral Home with services tentatively set for Tuesday.

--Waterloo Sunday Courier, Waterloo, Iowa Sunday December 30, 1950