GREENFIELD DAILY TIMES Article dated Monday, April 6, 1942 (Headlines on front page)
OLIVER L. KERNS COMMITS SUICIDE; RITES HELD TODAY
Veteran Plasterer Shoots Self at Home in Higginsville
Funeral was held this afternoon for Oliver Lewis Kerns, 72, veteran plastering contractor who committed suicide by shooting at his home in Higginsville Saturday evening, April 4, 1942.
Kerns discharged both barrels of a 12-gauge shotgun, the blast striking him in the head just above the right ear. He shot himself in the garage of his home between 5:30 and 6:00.
Members of his family believe he had been despondent because of failing health.
Kerns worked in his garden Saturday afternoon, then went to the home of a neighbor, Billy Barfield, and borrowed his shotgun, explained that he wanted "to kill a cat".
He shot himself a few minutes later. Mrs. Kerns heard the sound of the gun's discharge and found her husband's body in the garage. She went to a neighbor's home and phoned her son, Earl, S. Seventh St., telling him of the tragedy. Dr. W. M. Hoyt of Hillsboro, Highland County Coroner, viewed the body and returned a verdict of suicide by gunshot wound in the head.
Sheriff Cleo Shafer, who was in Greenfield at the time, was notified and went to the Kerns home.
Kerns had been engaged in the plastering business here for 56 years.
A native of Samantha, he was the son of James and Martha Sanders Kerns and was born July 3, 1869.
Services were conducted at the Samantha Methodist church at 2 O'clock this afternoon, Rev. L. R. Wilson of Greenfield and Rev. C. A. Arthur of Leesburg, officiating.
Burial was made in the adjoining cemetery under direction of Albert F. Strueve of Clouser & Co.
Kerns is survived by his son, Earl; a daughter, Mrs. Agnes (Richard) Badgley, 621 McKell Ave.; the widow, Mrs. Mary Elizabeth (Holmes) Kerns; two sisters, Mrs. James McKibben and Mrs. Bert Courntryman of Greenfield; and a brother, Walter Kerns of Leesburg.
Five grandchildren also survive. Four children preceded him.

Note: Oliver Lewis Kerns had a prior marriage June 11, 1891 to Susannah (Susie) Stewart born November 8, 1873, in Clinton Co., Ohio, daughter of Daniel Stewart and Sarah E. Stephens Stewart.
They had one daughter, Fannie Belle Kerns born April 26, 1893, in Greenfield, Ohio. She married Charles E. Brownlee October 1, 1912, in Highland Co., Ohio. He was the son of William Brownlee and Barthenia Rogers Brownlee. Fannie Belle Kerns Brownlee died March 31, 1928, in Highland Co., Ohio.
Oliver Lewis Kerns and Susie Stewart divorced Kerns June 7, 1897 in Highland Co., Ohio and no record of Susie has been found since that time.