Diane Gillam (-1953)

GILLAM, BACKUS

Posted By: Gail and Dennis Bell
Date: 6/5/2005 at 10:10:09

THE ALTOONA HERALD, Altoona, Iowa, Thursday, July 16, 1953, page 1, pictures and text, columns 2-6. Picture caption – Wreckage of car in which Mrs. Ward Gillam and her two daughters Diane and Linda were killed Sunday when it collided head on with another car near Garner. “AUTO CRASH TAKES LIVES OF LOCAL MOTHER AND CHILDREN – Six Polk county residents, including Mrs. Ward Gillam and her two young daughters of Altoona, were killed and a seventh injured Sunday afternoon in a head-on collision 3 miles south of Garner on Highway 69. The dead are: Mrs. Ward Gillam, 33, Altoona. Diane, 11, and Linda, 9, daughters of Mrs. Gillam. Jack Robert Burns, 35, 224 Guthrie Ave., Des Moines. Walter Hodge, 48, 307 E. Jackson Ave., Des Moines. Arthur Wagner, 73, 3109 Cornell St., Des Moines. The injured man, Robert Dorris, 48, 439 E. Livingston Ave., was taken t a Mason City hospital. He was reported in fair condition, suffering from shock and head lacerations. Five of the victims were killed outright in the crash shortly after 1 p.m. and the sixth, Linda Gillam, died a few hours later in a Mason City hospital. The car in which the three dead men were riding caught fire after the crash, but the men had been thrown from the auto by the impact. The Garner fire department was called to extinguish the blaze. The car’s occupants were returning from a Minnesota fishing trip at the time of the crash. A cooler full of fish was found in the car. Hancock County Coroner Kenneth Boughton, who described the crash as the worst he’d ever seen. Mrs. Gillam and her two daughters were traveling to Clear Lake, where her husband had rented a cottage and was waiting for them to join him. Mrs. Gillam, who was employed at the Hilltop grocery, 2820 Avenue Frederick M. Humbell, had just started a 2-week vacation. Her husband is in the refrigeration business in Charles City. Besides her husband, Mrs. Gillam is survived by her parents, Mr. and Mrs. Walter Backus, Altoona; a brother Marvin Backus, of Des Moines and a sister, Nancy of Altoona. Services for Mrs. Gillam and her daughters Diane, 11, and Linda, 9, were held at 10 a.m. Wednesday at the Hamilton funeral home with burial in Highland Memory Gardens.” Additional article on page 5, MITCHELLVILLE NEWS SECTION. “Car Collisions Cause Much Sadness Here - ………MRS. WARD GILLAM - …..Funeral services were held at….Hamilton funeral home in Des Moines. Mrs. Gillam was the former Kathryn Backus, formerly a resident of Mitchellville and a student in the school here.” Additional article/information from THE DES MOINES REGISTER, Des Moines, Iowa, Monday Morning, July 13, 1953, page one headlines: HEAD-ON CRASH TAKES 6 LIVES - ….. “Hancock County Coroner Kenneth Boughton, ….said he did not know as yet whether an inquest will be held. There must have been a high rate of speed., Broughton said.”