Edmunds, Rodney 1954-1960

EDMUNDS, HENDRICKS, VANDERHAMM

Posted By: Paul Van Dyke-Volunteer (email)
Date: 11/17/2010 at 22:39:37

6-Year Old Boy Killed in Car Accident Here.

A two-car accident here at 8:45 Saturday night snuffed out the life old a six-year old boy, Rodney Edmunds, who died at the hospitial at 1:30 Sunday never having regained consciouness. The boy was crushed between the rear seat and the back of the front seat when a car driven by Skip Clark, 20 of rural Akron, rammed into the rear of the car driven by the boy's father, Milo Edmunds.

Mr. Edmunds 32, suffered a neck whiplash injury and his wife Lois 29, suffered abrasions contusions and shock, Pamela 8, suffered a broken right wrist,back injury,contusions and abrasions. They were dismissed from the hospital Monday morning.Another passenger of the Edmunds car, Mrs. Florence Pharr of Roseville,Calif., was uninjured.

The accident occurred on Highway 12 two blocks within the Hawarden city limits near the Otis Radio plant. Officers said both cars were headed south in the right lane when the car driven by Clark, a 1953 Mercury hardtop smashed into the Edmunds 1954 Chevrolet sedan, telescoping the trunk off the frame into the rear, pushing the back seat up to the front. The steering wheel was cracked in two, the left back door bent with the window of the door and the rear window shattered.

Clark received minor injuries but not hospitalized following treatment. The car he was driving was not badly damaged. The accident is being invesitaged by Chief of Police Milo Hartman. Patrolman Dale Smith of Sheldon and Sheriff Harry Dykstra of Orange City, who reported that the Edmunds car bolted 450 feet following the impact before coming to a standstill. They pried the little boy out of the wreckage and took him to the hospital. He was bleeding profusely from severe lacerations, chest injuries and a fracftured skull.

Funeral services for Rodney Lynn were conducted at 2 o'clock Tuesday at the Methodist church, Rev. C.E. Custer officiating. Interment was in Grace Hill cemetery under the direction of the Barnard Funeral home. Rodney was born February 28, 1954 in Hawarden and completed his kindergarten year in West Sioux Community school.

He is survived by his parents; a sister Pamela; his grandparents Mr. and Mrs. Floyd Hendrick and Mrs. Roy Edmunds; a great grand mother Mrs. Wm Edmunds and great grandparents Mr. and Mrs. Henry Vander Hamm, all of Hawarden.

Source:Hawarden Independent(7-14-1960)