Kennard Man, 40, Is Found Dead Tuesday

Lawrence Pettit Found Dead In Car by Road Maintenance Man

LEAVES WIFE AND TWO CHILDREN

The body of Lawrence Pettit of near Kennard was discovered Tuesday morning at about 10:45 in his car one mile south of Highway 30 on the Dale road near Kennard.

County Sheriff W. D. McDonald reported that Mr. Pettit had died of carbon monoxide gas fumes piped into his car from the exhaust manifold.

The sheriff said that as near as could be determined, Pettit had committed suicide late Monday night.

The body was discovered by Leonard Petersen, a county road maintenance man, about 10:45 Tuesday morning. He immediately summoned the sheriff.

Sheriff McDonald said that the floor boards on the right side of the car had been taken out and the manifold. A piece of drain manifold to pipe the gas had been fitted over the manifold to pipe the gas fumes into the car.

According to officials Mr. Pettit had been working for Lawrence Brown, a farmer near Arlington where he grew to manhood. At his death he was forty years of age. He was married to Marie Rosenbaum on November 2, 1935. The service was performed at Papillion, Nebraska.

With the exception of about eight years he has made Kennard his home and he has a host of friends to whom his death is no less than a tragedy.

He leaves to mourn him his wife and two children, Jimmie, eleven years old and Betty, ten and his aged mother and three sisters, Mrs. Paul Noel, of Tekamah, Mrs. Gertrude Bates and Mrs. Henry Lautrup, both of Kennard and three brothers, Robert of Omaha, Peter of Ohio, George of Council Bluffs.

He was a member of the Kennard Lutheran Church and the funeral rites conducted by Rev. P. L. Thorslev will be held in the Kennard Lutheran church and interment supervised by the Bendorf Funeral Home will be made in the Kennard cemetery.