Published in The Enterprise, December 5, 1968

BLAIR NATIVE IS KILLED IN ALASKAN CRASH

BROTHER OF L.W. SVENDGAARD WAS PLANE'S CO-PILOT

Mr. Gerald Svendgaard, formerly of Blair, was among 39 persons to lose their lives when a Wien Consolodated Airline F___ twin engine prop-jet crashed ___ miles southeast of Anchorage, Alaska on December 2nd. He was co-pilot of the plane.

The plane went down about __ miles from their first scheduled stop at the village of Ill___, and was found half submerged in a lake in a marshland and surrounded by small mountains. It was 11 below zero and there was a ground fog.

Relatives in Blair have ___ received word as to the re___ of his body.

Woodrow Svendgaard of ___ is his brother, and Mrs. __ A. Sorensen (Helen) of ____ is his sister. Other survivors are his wife and three daughters at Anchorage; his mother, Mrs. Goldie Svendgaard of Seattle; sisters, Mrs. L. D. Andersen (Emma) of Ottertail, Minnesota; Mrs. Kermit Fattig (Norma) of St. Joseph, Missouri; Mrs. Charles Anderson (Louise) of Kent, Washington; Mrs. Clair Anderson, Seattle; and brothers, Maynard and Bill, both of Seattle. His father, Soren A. Svendgaard preceded him in death.

Gerald was born February 22nd, 1925 in Blair and attended grade school here before graduating from a St. Joseph High School. He was a pilot for tourists on bush trips in Alaska before serving as a pilot of his own plane on a mail route for the Federal Government in Alaska. For the past 5 years, he has been with the Wien Consolidated Airline.

(Some of this newspaper article was mangled and torn away, impossible to read.)