Accident kills close friends: 1986

NELSON, BOESE, HAMM, FLEIG

Posted By: Volunteer: Sherri
Date: 5/31/2023 at 17:30:52

Accident kills close friends
By MIKE AUGSPURGER
Courier city editor

FAIRFIELD - Two buddies died Sunday morning.

Stacy Nelson of Fairfield and Robert Boese of Lockridge were close companions said Nelson's mother, Cheriel Fleig.

"They were very good friends," she said. "Stacy had a lot of friends."

The two 17-year-olds were together when Nelson's car went out of control, hit a cement culvert and landed in a deep pool of water about two miles east of Fairfield on U.S. Highway 34.

Another passenger, Clayton Joseph Hamm, 18, of Eldon, was not injure in the 5 a.m. accident, the Iowa Highway Patrol said.

Dr. T.J. Sutton, Jefferson County Medical Examiner, said the young men had drowned.

The vehicle was "completely submerge," Sutton said. Hamm had "apparently climbed out."

Hamm sought help from people in a nearby home, the Jefferson County Sheriff's Department said.

Born in Keosauqua, Nelson spent his early life in the Stockport area before his family moved to Fairfield in 1976.

A junior, Nelson was a popular student and "he loved football," his mother said.

But he didn't play this year, opting to take a part-time job at Hardee's.

Nelson had worked in the restaurant's "back line" for about two months, said shift supervisor Dan Anderson. The "back line," he explained, is the kitchen area, but "you do just about everything. He was a good worker."

Nelson's mother remarried after his father, Alan, died. An infant brother also preceded him in death. "It has not been a good life," Fleig said.

"Stacy was staying with Rob that night," she said. "I don't know where they had been."

His friends called Robert Allen Boese "Rob".

A hunter, Boese enjoyed trapping sports and mechanics.

Having lived in Lockridge Boese had attended Fairfield High School before starting a day job.

Boese was a part-time stock clerk at Easter Foods store, a job he had held for about a year.

His parents, Robert and Cheryl, said their son planned to attend Indian Hills Community College in Ottumwa.

Source: "Scrapbook 1986 - 1988", Pg. 347,
Keosauqua Public Library, Keosauqua, Van Buren Co., IA