Adolph William Frana (1927-1975)

FRANA, MIDDLETON, REUVERS, CLAUDE

Posted By: Eileen Reed (email)
Date: 2/10/2024 at 13:06:49

May 4, 1927 --- August 7, 1975

Adolph Frana, 48, Eagle Grove, died last Thursday when his canoe capsized on Badger Lake north of Fort Dodge. He apparently drowned.

Services for Frana were Monday at 11:00 a.m. at Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Eagle Grove.

Divers from the Fort Dodge Fire Department located his body shortly before 4:30 p.m. Friday in about eight feet of water in Badger Lake. Frana and his son, Brent, 11, had been canoeing in the lake Thursday when the father fell out of the craft.

Robert Heun, executive officer of the Webster County Conservation Commission, who was in charge of the search operation, said officials believed young Frana was wearing a life preserver while his father was sitting on his in the canoe.

The accident occurred Thursday about 5:50 p.m. Heun said the canoe tipped over and both persons fell out, but that the canoe evidently tipped back upright partially filled with water. The younger Frana grabbed the canoe and saved himself.

Heun said about 12 people were involved in the 22-hour search, including divers from the Fort Dodge Fire Department, the Hamilton County Rescue Unit and individual volunteers from Fort Dodge and Badger. The lake has no current, so the search was confined to an area about 200 yards square. The divers were hampered by a debris-cluttered bottom and muddy water, and the body was found about 200 feet from the shore in an area previously searched.

Surviving are wife, Janice; sons, Rodney Claude, Karot Air Force Base, Thailand; Roger, Bradley and Brent, all of Eagle Grove; daughters, Mrs. Dwight Middleton, Webster City; Karen, Eagle Grove; four grandchildren; his mother, Mrs. Sophie Frana, Spillville, Iowa; brothers, Julius, Calmar, Iowa; Marcelline, Charles City; Ermin, Calmar; Stanley, Festina, Ia.; Art, Spillville; Jerome, Ossian, Ia.; sisters, Misses Viola and Georginia Frana, both of Minneapolis, Minn., and Miss Martha Frana, Spillville.

Frana was born at Calmar, and married Janice Reuvers of Eagle Grove in 1957. He was the service manager of D & B Motors of Eagle Grove.

Eagle Grove Eagle --- Eagle Grove, Iowa
August 14, 1975