(Photo: Caption: Pictured above is an aerial view of the crash scene where three Washington County persons were killed last week. Gently rolling sand hills but the plane went in at cruise power during a snow storm.)

(Photo: Caption: Pictured above is the Ralph Kuhr plane which was found northwest of Bartlett, Nebraska about noon last Saturday. A search had been conduced since it was last heard from about 6:30 Thursday evening. Other pictures of the wreck appear in Section Two of this issue. Mr. and Mrs. Ralph Kuhr and Bob Fitgerald, all of Washington County, were lost in the crash.)

Fitzgerald Funeral Held In Fremont

Funeral services were held Tuesday morning at St. Patrick's Catholic Church in Fremont for Robert Fitzgerald who met his death last Thursday in the plane crash which also took the lives of Mr. and Mrs. Ralph Kuhr of Blair. The Fitzgeralds live just east of Fontanelle on Highway 91.

A livestock field man for the Nebraska Farmer Magazine, he also aided Kuhr as a ringman at livestock auction sales throughout the midwest.

He was born June 14, 1935 at Colfax, Iowa and had lived in the Fontanelle area for the past five years. He married the former Marilyn Lnadgraf at Odebolt, Iowa on June 16, 1959.

A graduate of the Iowa State University, he had been associated with the Drover's Journal publication at Kansas City and the Chavet Farm Management and Sales Company in Omaha. He was Grundy County, Iowa Extension Agent for several years and was manager of beef operations at Boys Town.

An ambassador for Ak-Sar-Ben he was ringman at the Ak-Sar-Ben livestock show in Omaha for several years.

Besides his wife, other survivors include a son, Michael, and four daughters, Deborah, Kathy, Jean and Karen, all at home; his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Harold Fitzgerald, Elkhart, Iowa; and five brothers, Richard, Fairfax, Iowa; James, Pocahontas, Iowa; Jack, Cedar Rapids, Iowa; Dennis, Omaha; and David, Ames, Iowa.

Burial was made in Calvary Cemetery at Fremont.

The rest of the article:

Services For Mr. and Mrs. Ralph Kuhr Held Tuesday

The Ralph Kuhr plane, for which a wide two-day search was made last Friday and Saturday, was found shortly after noon Saturday on a hillside eight miles north and two miles went of Bartlett, Nebraska. The area is on the edge of the sand hills in rolling land. The Cessna 172 was but five miles off course on a direct route from Ainsworth to Fremont.

Mr. Kuhr and Bob Fitzgerald, a passenger, had conducted a cattle sale at Gordon and had stopped enroute home at Ainsworth for fuel. Mrs. Kuhr was a licensed pilot. All three were apparently killed instantly when the plane slammed into the ground.

The last contact was made with the plane at 6:45 P.M. Thursday when the pilot radioed for a weather advisory. Snow squalls and fog might have forced the plane down.

Funeral services for Mr. and Mrs. Kuhr were held at the First Methodist Church in Blair Tuesday afternoon. Services for Bob Fitzgerald were at St. Patrick’s Catholic Church in Fremont on Tuesday morning.

Ralph Kuhr was born February 7, 1981, at Wahoo, Nebraska, but had lived most of his life in the Blair area. He was the son of Herman C. Kuhr of 1616 Grant Street in Blair. He was a graduate of Blair High School, had always been very active in 4-H work and for years had been regarded as an outstanding livestock auctioneer, especially for cattle. For the past fifteen years he has worked the Ak-Sar-Ben livestock auctions and through this connection he gained a wide acquaintance.

He is survived by four children, Kent, Curtis, Clark and Keri. Kent, who is married, lives just north of the home place on the former Art Beales farm. Kurt attends the University of Nebraska in Lincoln, Clark attends high school in Blair and Keri, age five is at home.

A son, Craig, and his mother, Lois, died in a tragic accident four years ago when they were accidentally trapped in a gas-filled steel grain bin.

Also surviving are two brothers and two sisters. The brothers are Jack Kuhr of Omaha, Harvey Kuhr of California, and the sisters are Mrs. Marjorie (L.W.) Svendgaard of Blair and Mrs. Verna Kniep of Kennard.

Mr. Kuhr and Mrs. Hope Kirby Hartman, of Council Bluffs, were married in July, 1970, and they have operated the farm and carried on Ralph’s auctioneering work.

Mrs. Kuhr’s first husband was Don Hartman and he was a manager of a large Angus farm at Council Bluffs. Hartman was killed when a train struck his car some months ago. Through their mutual interest in livestock Ralph and Hope had known each other before either of them lost their mates.

Hope is survived by her mother, Mrs. W.L. Kirby, of Horatio, Arkansas and by a sister, Mrs. James A. Pratt of Austin, Texas. She had no children. Hope was born at Wicker, Arkansas in 1927 and was 45 years of age.

Following the funeral services Tuesday, Ralph was buried in the Blair Cemetery beside his first wife, Lois. Hope’s body was sent to Horatio, Arkansas where she is to be buried in the family plot.

The Rev. Charles Gates of the First Methodist Church conducted the double funeral services. Burial was under the direction of the Campbell Mortuary.

Pallbearers for Ralph were Elmer Dixon, Ray Hansen, Stan Bednar, Dale Hanna, Dean Fleming and Robert Volk. Pallbearers for Hope were Francis J. Bell, Donald Storjahnn, Richard Goos, Arthur Bartel, Ed. H. Spetman, Jr. and Dr. Max Olsen.

Source: Printed in the Washington County Enterprise on 3/2/1972