Earl Mintle, Iver Iverson Die In Car-Semi Crash

IVERSON, LEE, MINTLE, LACINA, MAY, BODINE, WOLF

Posted By: Don Wherry (email)
Date: 3/1/2013 at 18:10:40

The Grinnell (IA) Herald-Register; Sept. 19, 1963

Earl Mintle, Iver Iverson Die
In Car-Semi Crash East of City

Two men - one a Grinnellian and the other a former Gilman resident- were killed Wednesday morning in a car-semi crash at the Highway 6-63 junction seven miles east of Grinnell.

The victims were:

Earl Mintle, 67, 1026 Summer Street, Grinnell.

Iver Iverson, 72, Longmont, Colo., a former Gilman resident.

DIED INSTANTLY

Mintle, a rider in the right front seat of the car, died instantly.

Iverson, the driver, died in a Grinnell hospital about one hour and 15 minutes after the crash.

The accident occurred about 8:00 a.m. The Iverson auto was traveling east on Highway 6 and was turning north onto Highway 63. A westbound semi truck driven by Darrell Long, 20, Bettendorf, smashed into the right side of the car.

Witnesses said Iverson let one car pass and then turned directly into the path of the semi on the divided junction. Long swerved the truck to the right, but had no chance to miss the car.

Skid marks showed the truck braked only about 30 feet before smashing into the automobile. Long estimated that he was driving 40 to 45 miles an hour as he approached the intersection.

INTO DITCH

The truck slammed the car off the northwest corner of the intersection. Two stop signs were knocked down as the vehicles rammed into a ditch. Both vehicles came to a halt on their wheels. The rear portion of the truck remained on the highway.

Iverson was thrown from the car, landing about 13 feet from the spot where the car stopped. Mintle remained in the car.

Mintle and Iverson were on their way to Tama when the accident occurred. Iverson and his wife, Lena, were in Grinnell for a visit with relatives and friends, including Mintle.

Long, the truck driver, was not injured.

FIFTH, SIXTH DEATHS

Mintle and Iverson were Poweshiek county's fifth and sixth traffic fatalities of 1963.

Previous fatalities were:

Joseph Lacina, rural Grinnell, who died June 4 in a 2-car crash on Highway 146 six miles south of Grinnell.

Mrs. Elsie L. May, rural Malcom, in a car-truck crash at a rural intersection four miles north of the Malcom junction of Highways 6 and 63. She died June 13.

Ernest Bodine, Haddonfield, N.J., in a 2-car accident at the Interstate 80-Highway 146 junction three miles south of Grinnell June 24.

Edwin Wolf, Deep River, in a tractor-truck crash near Deep River. He died July 9, the day after the accident.

Iverson and his wife moved from Gilman several years ago and had made their home in Longmont, Colo., the past 12 years.

The son of Christian and Martha Lee Iverson, he was born on November 27, 1890, in Stavenger, Norway. Following his migration to the United States, he farmed in the Gilman area until his retirement.

Survivors in addition to Mrs. Iverson are a stepson, Melvin Mintle of Seattle, Wash.; and two brothers, Conrad of Loveland, Colo., and Sam of Marshalltown.

He was preceded in death by his parents, one sister and two brothers.

[Coordinator's Note: This was originally posted by the indefatigable Marilyn Norris-Holmes as an Obituary. I rather high-handedly re-posted it as a Document, linked-to by the Obituaries of the two men. I hope she'll forgive me... eventually anyway!]