BLAIRITE IS CRASH VICTIM

FRANK THOMPSON, 72, KILLED IN WRECK WHILE STARTING VACATION

CAR HITS D-C TRUCK DRIVEN BY BLAIRITE

Frank C. Thompson, 72, prominent farmer north of Blair, was instantly killed early Monday in a car-truck crash at the north-east edge of Schuyler on Highway 30.

Mr. Thompson and his nephew Bernard Thompson, 42, of near Kennard left shortly after 4 o’clock Monday morning on a vacation trip to the Colorado mountains.

The elder Mr. Thompson was driving for the first few miles, with Bernard Thompson sitting beside him in the front seat. The Blair car encountered fog this side of Schuyler.

On a curve just east of Schuyler the Blair automobile sideswiped a Blair-bound truck of the Denver-Chicago Trucking Co.

The truck was upset.

Driver of the D-C truck was Jess Smith of Blair, who was heading from North Platte toward the Blair terminal of the D-C line. Smith was not injured.

Bernard Thompson suffered a cracked rib and bruises.

RITES WEDNESDAY

The body of the elder Mr. Thompson was returned to Blair to the Campbell Mortuary. Funeral services were held at 2 p.m. Wednesday at First Methodist Church, the Rev. Homer L. Dickerson officiating. Burial was in Blair Cemetery, with Masonic graveside rituals. Pallbearers were Warren Wakefield, Carl J. Schmidt, Chris Korshoj, Clark Lippincott, Axel Nielsen, and Frank Biffar.

Mr. Thompson, son of Mr. and Mrs. John Thompson, was born in Omaha Dec. 7, 1879. He and Elnora Bernard, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Will Bernard of Washington County, were married Febr. 17, 1904. They lived six years on the old Thompson farm south of Blair, then spent 27 years on the Sutherland place west of Blair before moving 17 years ago to the present family home on Highway 73 north of Blair.

ATTENDED REUNION

Mr. Thompson, only the day before his death, had been at the Blair Swimming Pool Park to attend a Thompson family reunion.

Surviving Mr. Thompson are his wife, Elnora; a son, Glenn Thompson, at home; two grandchildren, Mrs. William Tripp (Lela Jeanne) and Peggy Ruth Thompson; and three great-grandchildren, Timothy Earle Tripp, Patrick Leigh and Peggy Lynn Tripp, all of Blair. A son, Leslie Thompson, died in 1938.

Also surviving Mr. Thompson are two brothers, John Thompson, 92, of Omaha and Daniel Thompson, south of Blair. There are a number of nephews and nieces.

# 2 - The following is an accompanying article

TRAGEDY PLAGUES THOMPSON FAMILY

Tragic sudden death has plagued the Frank C. Thompson family.

Their daughter-in-law, Mrs. Leslie Thompson (Ruth Compton) was fatally burned in 1935 in the explosion of a gasoline lamp.

Three years later, Leslie Thompson, 30, the widower, was killed in a car-truck crash near Blair.

The couple’s children, Jeanne and Peggy, went to live with the grandparents. A few years ago Peggy was badly injured when struck by a vehicle on Highway 73 while enroute home from school.

And this week Frank Thompson, the grandfather, met his death in a car-truck collision.