Grooms, Warren

GROOMS

Posted By: Marilyn Holmes (email)
Date: 3/3/2010 at 09:54:21

The Grinnell Herald-Register (Grinnell, Iowa) Sept. 1, 1955

WARREN GROOMS

LOSES CONTROL OF AUTOMOBILE NEAR KELLOGG

Thrown Clear As Car Rolls 210 Feet; Dies Wednesday At Des Moines Hospital

Warren Grooms, 43, prominent Grinnell insurance man, died Wednesday morning of injuries received when he lost control of his automobile early Tuesday morning on Highway 6 approximately one and one-half miles west of Kellogg.

According to Jasper county sheriff Ed Scoville, Grooms was returning to Grinnell at approximately 2:30 a.m. that morning when his car apparently went out of control, rolled for nearly 210 feet down a steep embankment and another 65 feet up the other side of the bank before finally coming to rest on its top. Although the car was a total loss, Grooms was thrown clear and was removed to a Newton hospital.

There examinations revealed that he was paralyzed from the waist down due to a compressed fracture of a vertebra. He also received broken ribs and cuts to his face and hands. Removed to a Des Moines hospital later the same day, he died early Wednesday.

A farmer living near the accident site, Glenn Cunningham, heard the tires squeal and got out of bed to investigate. When he saw the car lights shining up in the air he notified Scoville who quickly dispatched an ambulance to the scene.

Funeral services will be conducted Friday, September 2nd, at 2:00 p.m. from Smith's Funeral Home with the Rev. John DeLong officiating. Interment will be at Hazelwood Cemetery.

He is survived by his wife Ruth, and an eight year old daughter, Mary Lee.

A member of the Methodist church, the Elks and the American Legion, he served with the Army in the Asiatic-Pacific theatre during World War II.