Arthur, Robert Calvin 1928-1968

ARTHUR, GERARD, BROWN, STEMSRUD, LASH, MCDOWELL, LOWRY, TICE, SCHMIDT

Posted By: Marilyn Holmes (email)
Date: 7/31/2010 at 09:40:09

Herald-Register (Grinnell, Iowa) March 28, 1968

SEARSBORO MAN KILLED IN TRAIN-CAR COLLISION

Robert Calvin Arthur, 39, a Searsboro resident, was killed at 7:30 a.m. Tuesday morning when the 1960 Chevrolet station wagon he was driving was struck broadside by a Chicago-North Western freight train in Searsboro.

According to Highway Patrolman Judd Kahler, Arthur was westbound on the main street of Searsboro when his car was hit by the southbound freight train.

Witnesses said Arthur applied the brakes on his car for a short distance and was directly across the tracks when hit by the 17-car train engineered by F.D. Carr of Marshalltown.

According to the witnesses, the train sounded his whistle as he was approaching the track. There is no signal at the crossing. The train was traveling 35 miles per hour.

Arthur, the only occupant of the vehicle, died instantly of a severe skull fracture.

Funeral services for Mr. Arthur will be held at 2 p.m. tomorrow (Friday) at the Lynnville Friends church with the Rev. Peter Schuler, minister of the Friends church, officiating.

Organist will be Mrs. Carl Jay and pallbearers will be Rex James, Donald Killion, Gerald Arment, Keith Beaderstadt, Wilbur Allen and Jack Wiese. Honorary pallbearers will be Pearl Sivetts, John McDowell, Delbert Rayl, Floyd McGinn, Bryan Beaderstadt and Milo Phillips. Flowerbearers will be Mrs. Arl Crews and Mrs. Arnold Terpstra.

Burial will be in Jackson Township Cemetery at Montezuma. Friends may call at the Smith Funeral Home until Friday morning and then at the Lynnville Friends church.

Mr. Arthur was born Oct. 20, 1928 in Sugar Creek Township, Poweshiek County, the son of Cecil Hobart and Pansy Gerard Arthur. He attended the Searsboro schools and graduated from Searsboro high school. He served for two years in the Pacific in the U.S. Marine Corps.

On June 3, 1949, he married Evelyn Brown at the Little Brown Church in Nashua. To this union were born six children--Carolyn Jean, a student at the University of Northern Iowa; Steven Dean, 17; Neil Robert, 14; Boyd Duane, 12; Warren Eugene, 10; and Marsha Sue, 5.

Mr. Arthur had lived in the Serasboro area most of his life and for the last six years was employed at the Physical Plant at Grinnell College.

Survivors include his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Cecil Arthur of Montezuma; his widow Evelyn and six children; six sisters--Mrs. Bert (Margaret) Stemsrud of Montezuma, Mrs. Ed (Betty) Lash of Massilon, Ohio, Mrs. Roger (Eva) McDowell of Searsboro, Mrs. Richard (Doris) Lowry of Searsboro, Mrs. Ronald (Shirley) Tice of Corning and Mrs. Aileen Schmidt of Grinnell; and three brothers, Kenneth of Grinnell, Keith of Searsboro and Ward of Lincoln, Neb.