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Ronald Joseph Schmelzer
Lancaster, Ohio
1942 - 28 Sep 1968
Father Of
One, Athlete Victims
Two Killed in Head-on Accident
DEATHS
Saturday noon of a 26 year old Lancaster man and a 16 year-old Fairfield
Union High School athlete raised the city-county traffic death toll to 15
for the year.
Ronald Joseph Schmelzer, 26 of 695 Mithoff Dr., and Kenneth Ronald
Hendrickson, 16, Rt.5 Lancaster, were drivers of the two autos that crashed
head-on Saturday at 12:15 p.m. about 2 miles east of Lancaster on U.S. 22.
Two others, also Fairfield Union athletes, were injured. One, Thomas
Lee, 16, Rt. 5 Lancaster, was severely injured and was in fair condition
today at Lancaster-Fairfield County Hospital. The second, Edward Stickel,
17, Rt. 1 Bremen was treated and released. Both were passengers in the
Hendrickson auto.
STATE HIGHWAY patrolmen said Schmelzer was driving east when he came up
behind another car traveling slowly to make a turn. Schmelzer swerved his
car, went left-of-center and hit the Hendrickson auto head-on. The
Hendrickson auto skidded around backwards, the rear portion smashing into a
tree. The vehicle then spun around again.
Pleasantville and Bremen emergency squads were at the scene.
Hendrickson was the son of Mr. and Mrs. Kenneth (Hattie) Hendrickson,
Rt. 5 Lancaster. The youth died at the hospital two hours after the
mishap. Besides the parents, he is survived by two sisters, Mrs. Jerry
Boyer, Rt. 1 Lancaster, and Miss. Barbara Jean of the home; and his paternal
grandmother, Mrs. Bertha Hendrickson, Lancaster.
He was a junior at Fairfield Union, a member of Pleasant Township
Emanuel Lutheran Church and played basketball, track and cross country for
his school.
Hendrickson, Lee, and Stickel were on their way to Lancaster with the
F.U. cross country team to participate in a meet.
Funeral services for the youth will be held Tuesday at Frank E. Smith
Funeral Home; Rev. Paul O. Weimer officiating; burial in Ziegler Cemetery.
Friends may call at the funeral home anytime.
Schmelzer, dead at the scene, is survived by a daughter, Misstie, at
the home; his mother Mrs. Edna Schmelzer, also at the home; two sisters,
Mrs. Harold Uhl, Lancaster and Miss Jean Schmelzer, of the home; and a
grandmother, Mrs. Ethel Young, Lancaster.
Funeral services will be held Wednesday at 2 p.m. at St. John’s
Episcopal Church with burial at St. Mary’s Cemetery by Sheridan Funeral
Home. Friends may call at the residence after Tuesday noon.
Schmelzer’s father, Joseph, was fatally injured in an auto accident
several years ago. Mr. and Mrs. Hubert Schmelzer, 312 Green field St.,
Lancaster, had a very personal implication in the double fatality. The
Schmelzer man killed was Mr. Schmelzer’s nephew, while the Hendrickson youth
was a nephew of Mrs. Schmelzer. As far as is known, the two victims did not
know one another.
Spouse:
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