Ferguson, Elizabeth P. – d. 1951

FERGUSON

Posted By: Diana Wagner
Date: 7/13/2021 at 21:35:30

Mingo Teacher Killed
Car-Truck Collision This Morning on 117; Husband, Children Hurt
Mingo (Special) – Mrs. Harold Ferguson, 51, principal of Mingo grade school, was injured fatally this morning in a car-truck collision one mile southeast of here on Highway 117.
Mrs. Ferguson was being driven to school, along with her two children who are students, by her husband, Harold, 6. All were injured and were taken to Iowa Methodist hospital in Des Moines.
This makes the third person to be killed in a traffic accident in Jasper county this year. A Kellogg farmer was killed in April when his truck was hit by a train, and a Monroe man was killed in June as he was struck while walking across the highway.
This morning’s fatal crash happened at the blind corner on Highway 117, known as Maher’s corner.
Fergusons were just driving off the gravel highway onto a dirt road to go south into Mingo, a short route to the school.
The truck, driven by Virgil Gene Haynes, 24, Nevada, going south, was making a left turn over a hill when it hit the car. Neither driver was able to see the other. The collision was almost at the peak of the hill.
Charges of driving without a driver’s license or a chauffeur’s license are scheduled to be filed against Haynes, said Deputy Tracy Huitt who investigated the accident. Haynes was driving a U. S. government one and one-half ton truck.
He works for the Department of Agriculture checking on steel corn storage bins. Haynes received small cuts on the face as did a passenger and fellow employe, Paul Dolph, 20, Maxwell. They work out of Nevada.
Mrs. Ferguson received broken arms, broken leg, severe cuts and internal injuries. She died a short time after arriving at Methodist hospital. Mrs. Ferguson taught remedial reading and art in Mingo as well as being principal of the grade school.
The Fergusons live on a farm northeast of Colfax.
Mr. Ferguson received lacerations on the forehead, back of the right ear and on the right knee.
Richard, 14, a Mingo freshman, suffered a broken left arm and head injuries, and his sister Mary, 15, a junior, was believed to have a broken right arm and suffered face cuts.
Two ambulances from Newton took the Ferguson’s to Des Moines. Haynes and Dolph were treated by a Mingo doctor.
Ferguson’s 1937 four door DeSoto was practically demolished. The truck, which had about $150 damage, hit the car on the right front and right front side where Mrs. Ferguson was riding.
Source: Newton (IA) Daily News; September 7, 1951, page 1

Born June 4, 1899 in Kellogg, Iowa, died Sept. 7, 1951
Funeral services from Presbyterian Church in Colfax, Iowa at 2:00 p.m. September 10, 1951.
Clergyman was Rev. W. E. Dutton
Music furnished by Howard Loehr and Mrs. S. E. Tennant, Organist
Bearers were Frank Evans, Otho Hulse, Frank Morgan, Richard Evans, Fred Moll and Charlie Morgan
Flower Committee: Mrs. Susan Main, Mrs. L. H. Burton, Mrs. Harry Morgan, Mrs. Ruth Moeckley
Final resting place: McKeever Cemetery
Source: funeral program

Driver Charged – Vigil G. Haynes, 24, of Nevada, driver of a government truck involved in a fatal highway accident, has been charged with driving without a chauffer’s license in justice of the peace court at Colfax. The charge was filed after the mishap Friday near Mingo which killed Mrs. Harold A. Ferguson, 51, principal of the Mingo grade school. Four other persons were injured in the crash.
Source: Cedar Rapids Gazette; September 9, 1951, page 31