Pamela Lynn Laidig (1956-1962)

FOSTER, LAIDIG, LINK

Posted By: Eileen Reed (email)
Date: 2/10/2024 at 13:06:41

February 6, 1956 --- May 26, 1962

Pamela Laidig, 6, Drowns In Municipal Swim Pool

Funeral services were held here Monday for Pamela Lynn Laidig, 6, who drowned in the municipal swimming pool late Saturday afternoon.

Pamela was pulled from the pool at approximately 5 p. m. Saturday and efforts to revive her failed. The attending physician pronounced her dead at the scene and said she was dead when she was pulled from the water. The county medical examiner ruled it was an “accidental death due to drowning.”

She was the daughter of Mrs. Beverly M. Link of Eagle Grove and Ronald D. Laidig of Estherville. Her parents are divorced.

The first inkling of the tragedy came when Pamela's companion, Kelley Howell, son of Mr. and Mrs. Lonnie Howell, ran into the Chapman Oil Station across the street and told workers there "My friend's in the pool."

Claire Freeman and Ogden Johnson, the men he told it to, raced across the street, vaulted the fence and ran to the edge of the pool where they could see the girl on the bottom of the pool. Close behind them was Art Chapman.

Freeman said he was the first one in the pool but that the water was so cold when he dropped in that it took his breath away (The water temperature was 60 degrees.) Chapman, a former lifeguard at the pool, dove in and brought the girl to the surface and the two lifted her out. Chapman began artificial respiration immediately.

J. R. Carter of Eagle Grove said later that he saw Kelley running along the pool shortly before he came to the station. Carter was sitting in the back of the station while his car was being worked on and could see the pool through an open door.

He said he wondered what the boy was doing there but then he heard a power mower running and assumed that someone was mowing the grass around the pool and that the boy was with them. Later investigation revealed the mower he heard running was across the street north of the pool.

When Eagle Grove police officers talked to Kelley that evening he told them that he and Pamela had climbed the chain link fence to gain entry to the pool. The officers took him to the pool, and when asked where they had climbed over, he led them to the west corner of the building and said they climbed over where the false front slants down to the ground.

Another boy, Art Nelson, son of Mr. and Mrs. Alfred Nelson, had been playing with the others before they went into the pool grounds but refused lo join them when they went in. He told them he had to ask his mother first.

Pamela is survived by her parents, one brother, Bryan Duane, and her grandparents Mr. and Mrs. Kenneth Foster of Eagle Grove and Mr. and Mrs. Ernest Laidig of Estherville.

***

Obituary

Pamela Lynn Laidig was born Feb. 6, 1956 at Iowa City, Iowa. She was the daughter of Ronald Duane Laidig of Estherville and Mrs. Beverly Mae Link of Eagle Grove.

She is survived by her parents, one brother Bryan Duane Laidig, her grandparents Mr. and Mrs. Kenneth Foster, Eagle Grove, and Mr. and Mrs. Ernest Laidig, Estherville.

Pamela died Saturday, May 26 in Eagle Grove. Funeral services were held Monday afternoon at the Sandvig Funeral Home, in charge of Rev. Lyle Lieder. Burial was in Rose Hill cemetery.

Eagle Grove Eagle --- Eagle Grove, Iowa
May 31, 1962