Donna Rae MILLER

MILLER, JERGENSON, ORR, COOKLIN, WESTFALL, WESTPHAL, ANDERSON, FRANK

Posted By: Sarah Thorson Little (email)
Date: 1/7/2012 at 14:25:08

1943 --- September 8, 1956

Eagle Grove Girl is County’s 14th Highway Victim in 1956

Donna Miller, 12, Killed Saturday While Driving Car

Donna Miller, 12, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Clyde Miller of Eagle Grove, was instantly killed Saturday [September 8, 1956] night about 9:30 when the car which she was driving missed a turn at a deadend road 3 miles east of Eagle Grove. Also riding with her were Ronald L. Jergenson, 21, of Clarion who suffered a broken neck; Marlin Orr, 17, and her sister Charlotte, 15, both of Eagle Grove; and Jergenson’s brother, Richard D., 19, also of Clarion. The last three riding in the rear seat were less seriously injured. Ronald was reported in serious condition at the Lutheran hospital in Ft. Dodge where he was taken immediately after the accident. Donna and Ronald Jergenson, who were riding in the front seat of the car, were thrown out when it rolled over into a ditch.

Ronald and Richard Jergenson are sons of Mr. and Mrs. Selmar Jergenson who live 5 ½ miles southwest of Clarion. They were enroute from Eagle Grove to Clarion.

Donna, a pupil in the Eagle Grove eighth grade, is survived by her parents, four sisters and three brothers. Services were held Wednesday at the Eagle Grove Methodist church in the afternoon. Burial was also at Estherville where the family formerly lived.

It was Wright county’s 14th highway fatality this year.

Wright County Monitor -- Clarion, IA
September 13, 1956

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Daughter, Star Route Driver, Dies in Crash

Twelve-year-old Donna Miller of Eagle Grove, killed Saturday night in an auto mishap, was the daughter of Clyde Miller, star route driver between Eagle Grove and Algona, who is known by many Algonans. Donna was driving an auto owned by Ronald Jorgenson, 21, of Clarion, when it failed to make a sharp turn on a county road 4 ½ miles east of Eagle Grove at 9 p.m. Saturday. Jorgenson received a broken neck and is in critical condition in a Fort Dodge hospital. Three other teenage passengers in the auto at the time were not hospitalized. The five were enroute from Eagle Grove to Clarion at the time of the crash.

Robert Blecker, Wright county sheriff, said he planned to question Jorgenson to find out why the Miller girl was driving the auto. Driver permits are not issued in Iowa until a child is 14 years of age.

Miss Miller was an eighth grade student. Funeral rites will be held Wednesday at 9:30 a.m. in the Methodist church in Eagle Grove and at 2 p.m. in the Methodist church at Estherville.

Algona Upper Des Moines -- Algona, IA
September 11, 1956

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....Funeral services for Miss Miller will be held at 9:30 a.m. Wednesday at the Methodist Church at Eagle Grove. A second service Wednesday will be at 2 p.m. at the First Methodist Church, Estherville.

The Survivors
The girl is survived by her parents, five sisters and two brothers. The sisters are Mrs. Orville Westphal, [Westfall] Mrs. Dale Cooklin and Mrs. Duane Anderson, all of Fort Dodge, and Betty and Colene Miller, Eagle Grove. The surviving brothers are Keith Miller, Iowa Falls, and J. D. Miller, Eagle Grove. Also surviving Miss Miller are her maternal grandparents, Mr. and Mrs. George Frank, Spirit Lake.

September 10, 1956
Mason City Globe Gazette - Iowa