Linda Lou (McDaniel) Wells (1960)
MCDANIEL, STANTURF, WELLS
Posted By: Kent Transier
Date: 11/8/2023 at 18:02:57
The Winterset Madisonian
Winterset, Iowa
Wednesday, July 20, 1960MR. & MRS. LEE WELLS Killed in Head-On Collision Near Patterson
Madison county's 1960 highway death toll took a sharp increase late last Wednesday night on the highway 92 curve at the east edge of Patterson.
Killed instantly in the two-car crash were Mr. and Mrs. Lee Wells, both 21, former Winterset residents who had recently moved to Des Moines.
Driver of the other car was Eugene Croft, age 23, of Winterset, who was taken to Madison County Memorial hospital here. Croft suffered head and knee lacerations, shock and bruises. He was released from the hospital Sunday.
Investigating officers report that the near head-on collision occurred just east of the Salisbury station in Patterson, at approximately 12:50 a.m. The Wells car, a 1957 Oldsmobile, was proceeding east.
The car driven by Croft, a 1954 Ford registered to Marian Louise Hood of Winterset, was traveling west returning to Winterset from Des Moines. It is reported that Croft had exchanged cars with Gary Hood of this community, and had gone to Des Moines Wednesday evening to see about enlisting in a Naval Reserve training program.
A charge of failure to yield one-half of traveled portion of the highway was filed Monday in Justice court against Croft.
Mr. and Mrs. Wells were returning to their home in Des Moines after visiting friends here. Mr. Wells, along with Bill Hines and Fred Neisemier of Winterset, had attended the horse sale at Orient Wednesday evening. Mrs. Wells spent the evening with Mrs. Hines at the Hines home at Pitzer.
Mr. and Mrs. Wells were married last Nov. 29 at Princeton, Missouri, where they both graduated from high school in 1957. Mr. Wells was employed at the North Side Barber shop in Winterset from Oct. 1958 to Jan. 1960.
The largest funeral in the history of Princeton was conducted Sunday afternoon for the young couple. More than 1000 persons attended the joint services, held in the Princeton high school gymnasium.
In this same gymnasium, in 1956, the couple was crowned king and queen of the high school homecoming.
Mrs. Wells was the only child of Mr. and Mrs. Al McDaniel of Princeton. Mr. Wells is survived by his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Wendell Wells, farmers near Princeton; a sister, Mrs. Bill Stanturf of Humphreys, Mo., and two brothers, Dennis of Davenport and Dan of Princeton.
________________________Coordinator's note: Full name taken from gravestone.
________________________The Des Moines Tribune
Des Moines, Iowa
Thursday, July 14, 1960
Page 15, Columns 3-5NEAR PATTERSON
D. M. Couple Killed
Mr. and Mrs. Lee Wells, both 21, were killed about 12:30 a. m. Thursday in a head on crash on a Highway 92 curve on the edge of Patterson, in Madison County.
Wells had worked as a barber in Winterset, Waukee and Des Moines.
His wife, Linda, worked for Northwestern Bell Telephone Co. in Des Moines.
The couple lived in Des Moines at 1417 Twelfth st.
The driver of the other car, Eugene Croft, 23, of Winterset, was in fair condition at the Winterset Hospital Thursday.
Mr. and Mrs. Wells were married last Nov. 29 at Princeton, Mo. Both were graduated from Princeton High School in 1957.
Mrs. Wells was the only child of Mr. and Mrs. Al McDaniel of Princeton. Her father is employed by the Grand River Mutual Telephone Corp.
Mr. Wells is survived by his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Wendall Wells, farmers near Princeton; a sister, Mrs. Bill Stanturf of Humphreys, Mo., and two brothers, Dennis of Davenport and Dan of Princeton.
The bodies will be taken to the Martin-Arbell Funeral Home in Princeton.
The Des Moines Register
Des Moines, Iowa
Friday, July 15, 1960
Page 16, Column 8Wells Couple Rites Sunday
PRINCETON, MO. –Services for Mr. and Mrs. Lee Wells, both 21, of 1417 Twelfth st., Des Moines, will be at 2 p. m. Sunday in the Princeton High school gymnasium.
Mr. and Mrs. Wells were killed early Thursday in a head-on collision on Highway 92 in Madison County. Mr. Wells had worked as a barber in Des Moines, Winterset, and Waukee. His wife worked for Northwestern Bell Telephone Co., in Des Moines.
The couple was married Nov. 29, 1959. They were graduated from Princeton High School in 1957. In 1956 they were named “king’ and “queen” of the school home coming.
Officiating at the funeral rites will be the Rev. Howard Minshall, pastor of the Methodist church of which Mr. and Mrs. Wells were members.
________________________The Des Moines Register
Des Moines, Iowa
Monday, July 18, 1960
Page 1, Column 71,000 at Funeral For Car Victims
PRINCETON, MO.—The largest funeral in the history of this community was conducted here Sunday in the high school gymnasium for Mr. and Mrs. Lee Wells, both 21, of Des Moines, who were killed in an auto collision Thursday on Highway 92 near Patterson, Ia.
More than 1,000 persons, many of them from Des Moines and from Winterset, where the couple formerly lived, attended the joint services.
In the same gymnasium here in 1956, the couple was crowned king and queen of the Homecoming. They were married here Nov. 29, 1959. They lived at 1417 Twelfth st. in Des Moines.
Link to Gravestone Photo
Madison Obituaries maintained by Linda Griffith Smith.
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