Johnson, Helmer, 1915-1936

JOHNSON, ANDERSON

Posted By: Lydia Lucas - Volunteer (email)
Date: 6/13/2021 at 20:33:37

From the Hawarden Independent, April 30, 1936:

MET DEATH IN AUTO ACCIDENT
Helmer Johnson, 21, Killed Instantly Saturday
Was Son of Mr. and Mrs. Axel Johnson and Lived All His Life on Farm Northwest of Hawarden

Helmer Johnson, only son of Mr. and Mrs. Axel Johnson, residing about ten miles northwest of Hawarden, met with a tragic death about 3 o’clock Saturday afternoon when his car turned over on the highway northeast of Alcester. Arthur Newberg of Alcester happened along shortly after the accident and found Johnson’s body under the car. He telephoned to the Anderson garage at Alcester and the employees there summoned medical help. The coroner was also called and he pronounced the death as accidental.

Mr. Johnson was driving an old Hupmobile touring car and just what caused the accident will never be known as no one witnessed it. An examination of the car revealed that the switch was turned off and the car was out of gear. The car went off quite a steep grade near a culvert at the foot of a hill. The grade was new and the road bed was soft. It is believed that death was instantaneous and was caused by the temple being pierced by the steering wheel, which was broken. He had a cut under one eye and the back of his head was bruised. Mrs. Johnson and her daughter Dorothy were in Sioux City Saturday and stopped in Hawarden about 6 o’clock in the evening but did not learn of the tragedy until they reached home.

Funeral services were held at the Lutheran church in Alcester Tuesday afternoon and burial was made in the Nathaniel Lutheran cemetery near Alcester.

Helmer Johnson was born and grew to young manhood on his father’s farm, northwest of town. He was 21 years old. He was a graduate of the Alcester high school and at the time of his death was a student at the University of South Dakota at Vermillion. He had come home for the week end and was on his way home from a neighbor’s place where he had assisted with some electrical work when he met his death.

Besides his parents he is survived by two sisters, Misses Elvira and Dorothy Johnson, and his grandmothers, Mrs. Selma Johnson of Elk Point and Mrs. Swan Anderson, who makes her home with the Johnson family. Miss Elvira Johnson has been employed as a nurse at the Hawarden hospital for some time and Miss Dorothy is a senior in the Alcester high school. The late Elmer Johnson of Hawarden was a brother of Axel Johnson and an uncle of the victim of the accident.

Helmer was a young man of sterling character and was popular among his friends both young and old. His sudden and tragic death comes as a severe blow to his family and sincere sympathy is extended to them in their great sorrow.

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The South Dakota Death Index on Ancestry.com gives his name as Helmer R. Johnson, and his death date as 25 April 1936 in Union County. There is also a Birth Index entry for Helmer Johnson, born 11 March 1915 in Union County, S.D., parents Axel Johnson and Mathilda Anderson.

FindaGrave.com has Helmer R. Johnson, 1915-1936, buried in Nathanael Cemetery, Lincoln County, S.D., with a photo of his headstone. No family information.