Obituary Record

Hillard Ireland Stricklett
Died on 7/21/1946
Buried in Blair Cemetery

CRASH KILLS TWO DRIVERS

Hillard Stricklett, 25, and his companion, in fatal plunge last Friday. They were transporting new cars westward.

A Blairite, recently discharged from the Army, and a Denver man met instant death early Friday when their auto transport and loaded trailer plunged off the top of Wolf Creek Pass near Pagosa Springs, Colorado, and crashed 1500 feet to the bottom.

Killed:

Hillard Stricklett, 25, of Blair

Thomas B. Callaway, 24, of Denver, Colorado

Rescuers encountered considerable difficulty in removing the bodies of the men. The men were transporting four 1946 automobiles to Durango, Colorado, when the mishap occurred.

Stricklett's body was returned to Blair, where funeral services were held at 2 p.m. Tuesday at the Church of Christ, Royal Woodley of Brandon, Iowa, officiating. Interment followed in the Blair Cemetery.

A life-time Blairite, Stricklett, son of Mr. and Mrs. Frank H. Stricklett, was born at Fremont February 26, 1921, but had spent his entire life in Blair, except for a year in South Dakota, and his time in the Army. He attended Blair High School, and joined the Army in October 1942. After serving as a Corporal in the Military Police at William Northern Field, Tullahoma, Tennessee, he was discharged in February 1946.

For a time after his release, he was employed in Iowa. His parents, now living at Clarksville, Iowa, were then serving with the Church of Christ at Frytown, Iowa. This spring young Stricklett returned to Blair and was employed on a Missouri River project for a time before the job as an auto transport driver.

Surviving are his parents; his grandmother, Mrs. Elsie Stricklett of 328 East State Street, and many uncles, aunts and cousins living in Blair.

Includes a picture of Hillard.

Note: he was a veteran

2nd obituary: Printed in the July 25, 1946 Enterprise, Blair, Nebraska

Blairite Killed As Truck Rolls Down Mountain

Hillard Stricklett Driving Auto Transport At Time of Accident

Hillard I. Stricklett, son of Rev. and Mrs. Frank Stricklett of Iowa but formerly of Blair, was killed last Friday when he and a companion with an auto transport and loaded trailer plunged off the top of Wolff Creek Pass near Pagosa Springs, Colorado.

Stricklett is reported to have been twenty-two years of age and a native of Blair. The body was brought to Blair where funeral services were held in the Christian Church on Tuesday afternoon and interment was made in the Blair cemetery.

They were transporting four 1946 automobiles to Durango, Colorado when the accident happened.

~~~ Obituary courtesy of the Washington County Genealogical Society. Newspaper clippings on file in the Blair Public Library at Blair, Nebraska.~~~

FindaGrave memorial # 75189235

Printed in the Washington County Pilot-Tribune on 7/25/1946


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