Blair Girl’s Husband Is Accident Victim

Funeral services were held Saturday, April 12, at St. Bonaventure Church in Columbus for Thomas E. Meysenburg, Jr., who was killed Thursday, April 10, when his pickup truck collided with a semi-trailer truck on Highway 30 near Richland, Nebraska.

Rev. Kieran Kremner conducted the services. Burial was in the Marietta Cemetery in rural Bellwood.

Thomas E. Meysenburg, Jr., was born March 3, 1956, to Thomas J. and Anna Burke Meysenburg, Sr. He was a graduate of St. Edward High School and will receive his degree in Animal Science with a Dairy option posthumously from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln this spring.

He married Jane Elizabeth Smith on May 27, 1978, in Blair. They lived in Beaver Crossing, Plainview, Texas, and Columbus. He was employed at Spencer Foods in Schuyler.

Reports indicate that his southbound truck crossed the center line and side-swiped the semi, then burst into flames. He was returning home from helping friends do their morning chores at the time the accident occurred about 8:09 a.m. The Schuyler rescue and fire departments responded to the call on the accident.

Indications are that he died from a blow to the head at the scene of the accident. The semi driver was not hurt.

He is survived by his wife, Jane Elizabeth; one daughter, Christina Maria; his parents, Thomas J. and Anna Meysenburg, Sr.; one sister, Kathy of Columbus; and two brothers, Mark and David of Lincoln. His grandmother, Mrs. Anita Meysenburg, Milan, Illinois; his in-laws, Mr. and Mrs. Samuel J. Smith, Jr., of Blair; and numerous uncles and aunts also survive him.

He was preceded in death by his paternal grandfather and his maternal grandparents.

~~~ Obituary courtesy of the Washington County Genealogical Society. Newspaper clippings on file in the Blair Public Library at Blair, Nebraska.~~~