John Richard “Jason” Mead II (1978-1982)

FOX, HAMANN, LAUCAMP, MEAD

Posted By: Eileen Reed
Date: 2/10/2024 at 13:06:46

John Mead II, four-year-old son of Lisa Fox of rural Goldfield was listed in a very critical state Monday afternoon at the burn center at University Hospitals in Iowa City.

The Goldfield youth was injured in a 3:30 p.m. fire Sunday, that apparently started by a faulty string of Christmas tree lights that ignited the tree and eventually nearly gutted the rural home of his mother.

The boy was taken by Eagle Grove ambulance to the intersection of Highway 520 and Interstate 35 where Mead was transferred to a Iowa Life Flight helicopter enroute to the Iowa City hospital. Deteriorating weather conditions and the child's critical condition prompted attending medical officials to alter plans and speed Mead to Iowa Methodist Medical Center in Des Moines where he spent the night.

Monday morning, he was transported by helicopter to the burn center at the Iowa City hospital with second- and third-degree burns covering 90 percent of his body.

The Sunday afternoon tragedy began apparently when the Christmas tree burst into flames with the Mead boy napping in the same room, not more than eight feet away on a bed, said Wright County Sheriff Vern Elston in a telephone interview Monday. The boy's mother, Lisa, had stepped outside of her home located two miles north of Goldfield, to attend to some chores. Her neighbor called to her attention smoke emitting from the house and they rushed to investigate.

Her neighbor Dean Nelson fought the blaze with a hand extinguisher while the Goldfield Fire Department was called. Nelson noticed the boy inside, but was forced to leave because of extensive smoke and heat. Another neighbor, Mike Kraft, 28, was able to break out a window of the living room and pull the boy out of the house. The Eagle Grove rescue workers were later able to leave with the boy.

Iowa Fire Marshall Mike Keefe of Mason City, visited the fire site accompanied by Goldfield fire chief Ernie Lewis and Wright County Sheriff Department officials at 10:30 a.m. Monday morning to investigate the cause of the blaze.

Official findings should be available within two weeks, however, initial reports showed, Sheriff Elston said, that two strings of miniature Christmas tree lights malfunctioned and caused the dry tree to flash ignite.

Preliminary reports, lead to believe the tree flamed up to the ceiling and down the far wall igniting the wall paper, curtains and bed where young Mead lay sleeping.

The home was listed as a total loss, with extensive fire damage to the interior. The living room was gutted, as was the kitchen area. Smoke heavily damaged the rest of the one story house.

The Eagle Grove Eagle --- Eagle Grove, Iowa
Wednesday, December 30, 1981
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Word was received late Monday that John Mead, Jr., 4-year-old son of Lisa Fox, of Goldfield, died Monday from injuries he received in a Christmas eve fire in his home.

Funeral arrangements had not been set by press deadline for this week’s Eagle.

A fund continues to be collected by Goldfield Lions to aid the mother in paying medical bills.

The youngster had been a patient at University of Iowa Hospitals burn center in Iowa City.

The Eagle Grove Eagle --- Eagle Grove, Iowa
Wednesday, January 13, 1982
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John Richard (Jason) Mead II, was born at Clarion, Iowa on January 10, 1978, and grew up in the Goldfield area. He had suffered severe burns in a fire at his home on December 27, 1981. Jason died at the University of Iowa Hospitals in Iowa City on Monday, January 11, 1982.

He is survived by his mother, Lisa Fox of rural Goldfield; a sister, Sonya Fox, rural Goldfield; his grandmother, Mrs. Helen Hamann of Rochester, Iowa and his great-grandparents, Dick and Hazel Laucamp.

Funeral services for John R. Mead H, were held on Thursday, January 14, 1982 at 11 a.m. at the United Methodist Church in Goldfield. Rev. Lester Hancock and Dr. Lloyd W. Meyer officiated and burial was in the Glenwood Cemetery at Goldfield. Kastler-Babcock Funeral Home was in charge of the funeral arrangements.

The Eagle Grove Eagle --- Eagle Grove, Iowa
Wednesday, January 20, 1982