Houtsma, Alvin, 1915-1938

HOUTSMA, JOHNSON, VANIPEREN

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

From the Sioux County Capital, May 26, 1938:

Young Man Shoots Self
Kills Self With Rifle on Back Porch of Home

Alvin Houtsma, 21, son of Mr. and Mrs. Henry Houtsma, committed suicide Tuesday morning at 10 a. m. by shooting himself in the forehead with a 22 rifle. The young man was a lineman for the Central Electric and Telephone Co. of Orange City.

Alvin went to work Tuesday morning as usual and relatives say that he acted and talked normally, although he seemed a trifle pale. At about 10 a. m. he took the truck and went out supposedly to fix up some line trouble. Instead he went home and killed himself on the back porch. He was found by his sister, Jeanette, who called doctors, but when Dr. John De Bey arrived on the scene he was dead.

The young man is survived by his wife whom he married two months ago, his father and mother, Mr. and Mrs. Henry Houtsma, two sisters, Jeanette and Johanna and his grandmother, Mrs. Houtsma.

According to relatives, no notes were left and no motive could be advanced for the terrible deed.

Funeral services will be held at 2:30 and in the First Reformed Thursday afternoon in the home church, at 3 p. m.

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From the Sioux Center News, May 26, 1938:

Young Orange City Man Ends Life With Gun

Orange City, Ia.—(Special)—Alvin Houtsma, 23, fatally shot himself in the head with a 22-caliber rifle Tuesday morning for a reason unknown to either relatives or friends. The young man, who was married to Miss Mavis Johnson of Sheldon, Ia., about six weeks ago, ended his life in the kitchen of the home of his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Henry Houtsma. A liineman for the Central Electric and Telephone company for the last year, young Houtsma had been out collecting for the firm Tuesday morning before he shot himself. He left no notes.

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From the Sioux County Capital, June 2, 1938:

Not a Suicide

Mr. Henry Houtsma has asked us to inform the public that the shooting of his son was not done with suicidal intent but was an accident. The young man was cleaning the rifle preparatory to taking it out to shoot squirrels and the piece was accidentally discharged. The Capital is sorry that the matter was misunderstood and gladly makes this correction.

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His death certificate adds his birth date, August 9, 1915, in Hospers; parents Henry Houtsma, born in the Netherlands, and Stella Van Iperen, born in Hospers; a telephone lineman for 6 months; died at 8 a.m. May 24, 1938; “deceased shot himself with gun in the forehead, died at once”; a question mark after “Accident, suicide, or homicide?”

His FindaGrave page shows him buried in West Lawn Cemetery, Orange City, with a photo of his headstone. It lists his parents and his two sisters, but no wife.

His marriage certificate gives his full name as Alvin Robert Houtsma, age 23, resident of Orange City, a telephone lineman, born in Hospers, parents Henry Houtsma and Stella Van Kley; bride Mavis Jeanette Johnson, age 19, resident of Sheldon, born in Warren, Minn., parents Hjalmer Johnson and Hazel Dell Rider; married in Sioux City, Iowa, April 16, 1938.

The 1925 Iowa state census gives his mother’s birth name as Stella Van Eperen.