Young, Lois (Mrs. Robert) 1942-1969

YOUNG, VONK

Posted By: Paul Van Dyke-volunteer
Date: 9/12/2013 at 13:23:17

Source: Sioux Center News (10-2-1969)

Funeral services were held at the First Reformed Church at Rock Valley at 1:30 P.M. Monday for Mrs. Robert Young, nee Lois Vonk, 27, former Sioux Center 5th grade teacher and a 1959 graduate of Sioux Center Community High School, whose body was found in a shallow grave in a wooded area near Manistee, Michigan, September 22.
Services were conducted by the Rev. Ralph G. Ten Clay and burial was made in the Carmel Cemetery under the direction of Porter Funeral Home of Rock Valley.

An autopsy conducted in Michigan last week revealed that Mrs. Young had died of a bullet wound in the abdomen, and her husband told authorities in Michigan, according to reports received here, that he had accidentally shot his wife on a rifle range during target practice. Robert Young (also known as Larry Lee Zygutis) appeared before a circuit court judge in Mason County, Wisconsin, last week and admitted to the court that his wife died as a result of a gunshot wound which was inflicted through his negligent handling of a firearm.

At the time of Mrs. Young’s death her husband did not report the tragedy. Instead he buried her body in a shallow grave near Manistee, Michigan. He led authorities to the grave 10 days later.

Mrs. Young, 27, was the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Neal Vonk of Rock Valley. She had been married to Young about two years. The couple had no children. They had moved a short time before her death from Norwalk, California, where Mrs. Young taught school, to Minneapolis, where he supposedly had taken a position as a sheet metal worker.

Mrs. Young taught fifth grade at Kinsey elementary school here in 1964-65 and 1965-66.
Meanwhile Mr. Young is at his mother’s home in Phoenix, Arizona. He did not attend the funeral services Monday at Rock Valley.

Survivors besides her husband include her parents, Mr. and Mrs. Neal Vonk of Rock Valley; four sisters and five brothers.