Deegan, John H. 1898-1952

DEEGAN

Posted By: Viv Reeves (email)
Date: 4/16/2005 at 19:08:08

From the LeMars Sentinel, Friday, September 2, 1952, Page 1, Column 1:
John Deegan, 54, Found Dead
Set Rites Wednesday

Funeral services for John H. Deegan, 54, well known farmer who spent his entire life on the same farm located north of Seney, will be held at 9 a.m., Wednesday, at St. Joseph's Catholic Church in Struble.

The Rev. George Benjamin will conduct the rites and burial will be in St. James cemetery in LeMars.

Mr. Deegan's body was discovered Sunday morning by Ralph Heyl, the tenant on the Deegan farm, with whom Mr. Deegan, a bachelor, lived.

Mr. Heyl had finished the morning chores, and not finding Mr. Deegan in the house, went out to look for him. In the doorway of a shed on the farm he found a revolver, and the body was hanging from a rafter inside.

According to County Coroner S. H. Luken, who, with Deputy Sheriff Leo Hentges, investigated, Mr. Deegan stood on a truck, tied a rope to a rafter and his neck, and then shot himself in the head.

Friends reported that he had been worried over several heart attacks, although he seemed in good spirits Saturday.

Mr. Deegan was born Feb. 24, 1898, at LeMars, the son of the late Mr. and Mrs. Will Deegan. A brother, Bill, also preceded him in death.

He is survived by two brothers, Roy of LeMars, and Joseph of Orange City; five sisters, Mrs. T. K. Chapman, and Mrs. Ralph Bergin of LeMars, Mrs. Martin Pletschette, Cherokee, Mrs. Omar Topf, Saliz; and Mrs. Ted Langenhorst, Hospers.

The body will be at the Wiltgen-Luedtke funeral home until time of the service, and the parish rosary will be said there at 8 p.m. Tuesday.