Kolker, John died 1945

KOLKER, BECKER, MINGER

Posted By: Reid R. Johnson (email)
Date: 2/19/2024 at 14:04:48

Clayton County Register, 14 June 1945.

Dragging for the bodies of three Millville men believed to have drowned in the Mississippi a mile above Guttenberg was given up Wednesday when authorities lost hope of their recovery by that method.

Victims were John Kolker and Garrison Becker, farmers; and Verle Minger, trucker; who are believed to have drowned when their boat capsized late Sunday afternoon. The men failed to return from a fishing trip Sunday night, and Sheriff E. W. Carlsen was notified. Search for the bodies was begun early Monday around Abels Island where the capsized boat was discovered, and the grappling continued through Wednesday.

Kolker and Becker were married and Kolker is the father of five children. The three men spent some time in Glenhaven, Wis., Sunday afternoon and left there at 5:30. Possibly the last man to see them was George Thatcher, a commercial fisherman, who recalls seeing their boat go by at a fast clip. He was not much interested in the craft, but later recalls hearing the engine cut off. At that time he thought the boat had pulled in to an island.

About 15 boats were used in the three day hunt and as operations were intensified Wednesday additional equipment was brought down from Prairie du Chien, Wis. The sheriff and his party attempted to blast for the bodies yesterday without result, and the county grappling equipment was ruined during the search.

Despite the failure to find the bodies through grappling and blasting he believes they will be discovered within the next few days.
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Clayton County Register, 21 June 1945.

The bodies of Verle Minger and Garrison Becker who drowned Sunda, June 10, at Guttenberg, have been recovered. Search for the body of John Kolker, the third river victim, continues.

The body of Garrison Becker was discovered Friday above the Guttenberg dam, and Monday Frank Schoenauer who is in charge of the dam saw the body of Verle Minger go through the locks. He notified several Oelwein men who were fishing further down the river and they brought it to shore.

Grappling for the bodies was given up Wednesday, June 13, when Sheriff Carlsen and Ronard Lessard of Prairie du Chien, who has brought up 74 bodies from the Mississippi in times past, decided further search by this method was useless.

The three victims, who were lost when their fishing boat capsized, all were Millville men. Kolker and Becker were married and Kolker was the father of five children.
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Clayton County Register, 28 June 1945.

The body of John Kolker was recovered Sunday, June 24, two miles south of Guttenberg in Twelve Mile Slough. Kolker's body was the last of three to be recovered following a river accident of June 10, in which he and his two companions, Verle Minger and Garrison Becker were drowned. Kolker was a farmer and the father of five children.

Cause of the accident is not known but it is thought that the drownings occurred when the boat in which the three men were riding capsized.

Becker's body was recovered Friday, June 15, above the Guttenberg dam, and several Oelwein fishermen brought in Minger's body Monday, June 18, after it was seen going through the government locks by Frank Schoenauer who is in charge of the Guttenberg dam. All three men were from Millville.

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(Note: No actual obits were found in the Clayton County Register for any of the victims.)