Obituary Record

Tom Wilson
Died on 8/3/1961

None

Enterprise 3 Aug 1961

Two Are Drowned In Boat Accident Wednesday Night

Running After Dark Without Wearing Life Preservers

Two were drowned and three were rescued late Wednesday evening following a boat accident on the Missouri River. Sheriff Rudy Fick, who was called to the scene and spent most of the night there, reported early this morning that neither of the missing persons or the boat had been located. At noon, the body of one victim, was found south of the South Omaha bridge.

According to Sheriff Fick, a plywood boat owned by Tom Wilson, 20, of 5200 North 27th Avenue, Omaha, was approaching the lower end of the DeSoto Bend cut-through channel when it apparently struck a sandbar. Riding with Wilson were four passengers.

The speeding boat struck with such force that all of the passengers were thrown out and the boat began to circle in the water. Nearby fishermen heard the commotion and came to their rescue. None of the occupants of the boat were wearing life preservers although they were available in the boat. The night was quite dark. Visibility of underwater objects was, necessarily, almost impossible.

Those involved in the accident were as follows:

WILSON, the boat owner and operator, is missing this morning. He slipped off the bar into deep water before he could be rescued.

JOLENE CLAUSEN, 18, of Anita, Iowa, but working in Omaha, residing at 1504 Yates street, was also swept away before assistance could come.

VIOLA LONG, 18, also of Anita, Iowa and visiting with Miss Clausen, was rescued.

CAROLYN CADY, 81, 3747 North 55th street, Safe.

ARNOLD SCHARTZ, 28, 7706 North 31st street, Omaha, Safe.

The accident occurred at 10:15 Wednesday night, judging from the time one of the wristwatches of the victims stopped. The sky was slightly overcast at the time and visibility was poor. The area in which the accident happened has considerable swift water as it empties out of the DeSoto cut which has more than the normal fall of the river.

The boat was a factory built craft, of plywood, powered by a Mercury motor. Searchers have been unable to determine what happened to the boat and are theorizing that the bottom may have been smashed in when it hit the bar, causing the boat to take water and sink. The boat continued to circle after the passengers were dumped into the water, indicating that Wilson did not have time to cut his power.

The body of the Clausen girl was found about noon on Thursday approximately 1 ½ miles south of the South Omaha bridge. The Iowa Highway Patrol and the Pottawattamie County Sheriff’s office, along with many observers on the bank and an airplane are still searching for the body of Wilson.

Pilot Tribune 7 Aug 1961

Body Recovered From Mo. River

The body of Tom Wilson, 20 years of age, Omaha, second victim of a boating accident that took place on the Missouri River near the DeSoto Bend Wednesday evening, was recovered near Fort Calhoun Friday.

Sheriff Rudy Fick reported that the body was found along the bank of the river about a mile and a half below the scene of the accident.

The body of Jolene Clausen, 18, of Omaha, was found Thursday. Three others in the boat made it to shore following the accident.

Note: Since the actual death date was not given, the news article date was used.

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

Printed in the Washington County Enterprise on 8/3/1961


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