VerDught, John – 1875-1937

COSTER, DUNBAR, JOHNSON, VAN HAALEN, VER DUGHT, WITZENBURG

Posted By: Diana Wagner
Date: 7/13/2021 at 21:35:40

Dog Stands Guard Over His Master
John Ver Dught, 61, Drops Dead While Hunting Near Percy This Morning
PRAIRIE CITY – John Ver Dught, 61-year-old Prairie City restaurant man dropped dead while hunting on the Des Moines river southeast of Percy this morning.
Ver Dught was hunting ducks with John Gross, also of Prairie City, when he apparently was stricken with a heart attack and died.
The dead man’s hunting dog stood guard over his master’s body and refused to let a doctor examine Ver Dught until a blow knocked the animal unconscious.
Ver Dught’s death occurred at 7:30 a.m., three or four miles south east of Percy.
Toland funeral home of Newton was called and sent an ambulance after the body.
The Prairie City man leaves his wife and two sons, Leo and Joy, and three brothers and three sisters.
He was in the meat business here for 33 years before taking over the operation of the restaurant.
Source: Newton Daily News; Monday, October 18, 1937

PRAIRIE CITY – Funeral services for John Ver Dught, 62, who died suddenly Monday, Oct. 18, while duck hunting, were held from the Walter funeral home Wednesday afternoon in charge of Rev. J. H. Findley, pastor of the local M. E. church.
Music was furnished by a mixed quartet composed of Mrs. Earl Williams, Miss Nettie De Gooyer, Melvin Bowans and Louis Vander Linden, who sang “The Touch of His Hand on Mine,” and “In the Sweet Bye and Bye.”
Pallbearers were Claude Williams, Zig Moraski, H. L. Clark, Fred Warner, John Grose and Everett Perryman. Burial was in Waveland cemetery.
Mr. Ver Dught was born in the vicinity of Pella, Sept. 27, 1875.
In 1903 he came to Prairie City and entered the meat business in partnership with John Van Haalen, continuing until February 1936. Since that time he has been in the restaurant business here.
In 1905 he was married to Bertha R. Coster, who with their two sons, Leo and Joy survive. Also three sisters, Mrs. Marie Johnson of Pella, Mrs. Yella Witzenburg of Ivy and Mrs. A. R. Dunbar of Des Moines; three brothers, Case and Will of Pella and Pete of Monroe, also an adopted sister, Mrs. John Van Haalen of Prairie City.
Source: Newton Daily News; Monday, October 25, 1937