Heffelfinger, Sharon Kay – 1948-1961

HEFFELFINGER, NORTON

Posted By: Volunteer
Date: 5/17/2021 at 16:53:13

Two Mingo Girls Killed In Collision Saturday
Tragedy again visited the Newton area this weekend, snuffing out the lives of two Mingo children and sending the mother of one to the Skiff Memorial Hospital critically injured.
The accident happened on the glazed road when Mrs. Hal Heffelfinger of Route 1, Mingo, lost control of her car while coming north out of Colfax on Route 117. The Heffelfinger car, in which Mrs. Heffelfinger’s daughter, Sharon Kay, and Sharon’s cousin, Claudia Lynn Baldwin were riding, spun around in the road several times before colliding with a truck driven by Coy Bishop of 440 N. Second Ave. W. in Newton.
The Heffelfinger car struck the truck’s bumper almost directly at its door, and the impact crushed the body of the vehicle. Both the girls were on the seat in the direct path of the collision.
Both the car and truck were almost completely demolished, according to Sheriff Ray Gaylor, who was one of the investigating officers called to the scene.
(obituary for Claudia Lynn Baldwin and description of another accident omitted)
Funeral services for Sharon Kay Heffelfinger will be held at 2:30 p.m. Tuesday at the Mingo Methodist Church.
The Rev. Max Hall minister of the church will conduct the services. Burial will be in Peoria Cemetery near Maxwell.
The child, also a student in the Mingo school, is survived by her parents, Mr. and Mrs. Hal Heffelfinger; a brother, James of Springfield, Ill., and her maternal great-grandparents, Mr. and Mrs. H. J. Norton of Maxwell.
The child will lie in state at the Cooper Funeral Home in Maxwell until time of the services.
She was born Jan. 1, 1948 in Des Moines.
Source: Newton Daily News; December 18, 1961, page 1