Larry Dean Nichols (1958)

NICHOLS, HOPE, PHILLIPS, TRACY, FREESTONE

Posted By: Pat Hochstetler (email)
Date: 1/7/2007 at 16:35:02

Winterset Madisonian - December 1958
Winterset, Iowa

Copied from Obituary Scrapbook - Winterset Public Library, Winterset, Iowa

SECOND DEATH OF 1958 IN COUNTY

Loses Control at High Speed On Curving Road Down Smith Hill

Larry Dean Nichols, 22, of Winterset, was killed instantly, and Mr. and Mrs. Darvin Hohneke of Winterset were seriously injured Saturday night when their car crashed at high speed on highway No. 169, south of the Middle river bridge.

It was the second highway death of this year in Madison county. There had not been a fatality since the death of Almon L. Field of Winterset last June.

Darvin Hohneke and his wife, Jo Ann Gray Hohneke, were riding in the car driven by Nichols. Both are 20 years old. They were taken to Memorial hospital in Winterset, where their conditions were reported as serious, but improving, early this week. Hohneke received multiple face and scalp lacerations and body bruises, and a fractured rib. Mrs. Hohneke had facial lacerations, and a multiple fracture of the left leg.

At the time of the accident, their car was approaching Winterset from the south, traveling at high speed, and went out of control as it came down the Ed Smith hill. Near the top of the hill it met a truck and two automobiles. It passed them safely, then started skidding as it rounded the first curve. Deputy Seriff Lawrence Hooper, driving south, reports he met them between the first and second curves, saw they were skidding, and drove his car onto the shoulder as a precautionary measure.

After rounding the second curve, Nichols met a car driven by James Van Rossum of Lorimor. The two cars side-swiped, after which the Nichols car went completely out of control, into the ditch on the east side, up the bank, back down into the ditch and finally hit a cement culvert, which caused it to flip end over end and land upside down. The accident occurred about 11:35 p.m.

None of the three occupants were thrown from the car.

Van Rossum, and his wife, who was riding with him, escaped injury, but their car was heavily damaged.

In the hospital report issued this Tuesday, the condition of Mrs. Hohneke was listed as fair, while that of her husband was listed as good.

Larry Dean Nichols was born near Winterset on July 28, 1936, one of twin babies born to Mr. and Mrs. Ray Hope. The twins' mother died in childbirth, and they were adopted in infancy by Mr. and Mrs. Elijah Nichols, and reared by them.

The boy's early life was spent near Peru. He graduated from the Lorimor high school with the class of 1955. In October of 1955 he entered the U.S. army, and was discharged in October of this year, after completing three years of service.

His foster father died in 1952. He is survived by his foster mother, Mrs. Grace Nichols of Winterset; his twin sister, Mrs. Thomas Phillips of Winterset; Ray Hope of Winterset; three brothers, Richard, Eugene and Rex Hope, all of Des Moines; and two other sisters, Mrs. Delores Tracy of New Virginia and Mrs. Doreta Freestone of Oceanside, Calif.

Funeral services were held this Tuesday at 1:30 p.m. from the Richards Funeral home, conducted by the Rev. W. W. Steinmetz, pastor of the Winterset Methodist church. Burial was made in the Peru cemetery.