COMBAT VET TAKES LIFE

ALBERT KAHNK, 36, FORMERLY OF KENNARD, HANGS SELF AT NICKERSON

The dead body of Albert J. Kahnk, 36, army combat veteran and former Kennard resident, was found Friday morning hanging from a rafter in the hayloft of a barn on his farm about half a mile west of Nickerson. Officials said Kahnk had committed suicide.

The body was discovered about 9:45 a.m. by Frank Bahner, a neighbor who came to the farm to ask Kahnk’s assistance in shelling corn, officials reported.

The deceased man’s wife, the former Maxine Van Horn of Hooper, had been unable to locate her husband after arriving at the farm about 9 am. She told officers that her husband had stayed overnight with her at the home of her parents, Mr. and Mrs. Ed Van Horn, in Hooper and left for his farm about 5 a.m. She went to the farm a few hours later to help supervise painting which was being done to prepare the place for their occupancy. The couple’s marriage last Dec. 30 at Marysville, Kan., had been announced only Thursday.

Mr. Kahnk, who received his army discharge as a corporal in the fall of 1945, served three and one half years in an anti-aircraft unit in Europe and was awarded seven battle stars and the purple heart medal.

Born Nov. 26, 1911, near Kennard, he was the son of the late Mr. and Mrs. August Kahnk, and was educated in the Kennard schools.

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

Find a Grave Memorial #91888880