Obituary Record

Karen O Vonnahue
Died on 1/17/1972

None

Pilot Tribune 17 Jan 1972

Three Dead As Car Veers Across Highway Into Oncoming Vehicle

(Photo & Caption: Pictured above is a view showing the Kastrup auto, to the left, rammed into the passenger side of the Vonnahue auto. In the background are Rescue Squadsmen working to free victims from the wreckage.

(Photo & Caption: Pictured above is a view from the driver’s side of the Vonnahue auto. The car was pinned against the guard rail and the front side jammed out of the door.

Three Girls, All 20 Years Of Age, Were Killed Outright

Three young women, all 20 years of age, were killed outright early Friday evening when their car went out of control on Highway 91 west of Blair, and collided with an on-coming vehicle. The accident happened shortly before 6 o’clock Friday evening beside the Eldred Kempcke farm 3 ½ miles west of Blair.

The girls were enroute to Dodge, Nebraska where the parents of one of the girls were having a wedding anniversary celebration that night.

The dead were Shirley M. Ortmeier of Dodge, Nebraska to whose home the three were enroute. Shirley was a Secretary in an Omaha office.

Another was Bonita J. Kroenke, of Route 2, Scribner. Bonita was a student nurse in Omaha.

The third was Karen O. Vonnahue, whose home was Arcadia, Iowa but she lived at 127 North 39th street in Omaha. She was the driver and owner of the 1971 Nova Chevrolet.

Driver of the other car involved was Kai Kastrup, of Blair who was driving a 1963 Oldsmobile sedan. He was not seriously injured.

Information given by Kastrup revealed that he was enroute east returning to Blair, when he met two oncoming cars at a point east of the former Sutherland School. The rear car started to go around the front car and then cut back to await the passing of the Kastrup car. In some manner the rear car went out of control, veered across the highway and was struck squarely in the passenger side by the Kastrup car.

The Blair Rescue Squad was called and the men had some difficulty removing the girls from the car which had become jammed against a guard rail at the side of the road.

The Kastrup auto nearly went through the Vonnahue auto and pushed the front seat out of the door on the driver’s side. The Vonnahue auto was also pushed against the end of the guard rail on the steep bank above the Kempcke farm home.

The Blair Volunteer Rescue Squadsmen were called to the scene and then the Blair Volunteer Firemen were called as leaking gasoline presented a fire hazard around the wreckage.

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 Pilot-Tribune on 1/17/1972


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