HERBERT C. WESTPHAL

EXTRA!
Westphal, Son Reported Missing on Florida Flight
Pland Had Landed at Owensboro, Ky.; CAA Starts Search
Terre Haute, Ind.-A light plane carrying Herbert C. Westphal and his son Richard,
of Manitowoc, Wis., was reported missing Thursday, en route to Lake Worth, Fla.
Civil Air Patrol planes immediately began an area wide search, covering several
states.
Westphal, 47, is the owner of Westphal's hardware store on North Eighth Street in
Manitowoc.
He and his son, 13, left the Manitowoc Municipal Airport at 4 a.m. Wednesday for a
flight to their winter home in Florida.
According to the Civil Aeronautics Administration headquarters here, Westphal made
radio contact with the Terre Haute airport Wednesday morning.
His plane, a four-passenger Piper Cub, reportedly landed for refueling later at
Owensboro, Ky. Contact with the plane was lost after it left that field.
Louis Kakuk, manager of the Manitowoc airport, said the flight to Lake Worth would
normally have been made in 12 to 13 hours, with at least two stops for refueling.
Westphal, of 2230 Lakeshore Blvd., was recently named president of the Manitowoc
Pilots Association. He had made several flights to his summer home before this.
Manitowoc Herald Times, Manitowoc, Wis. February 4, 1954 P. 1
*********
Schedule Double Funeral for Herbert Westphal, Son
Bodies Are Recovered From Mountain Ridge
Double funeral services will be held here Wednesday for Herbert C. Westphal,
47, Manitowoc merchant, and his son, Richard, 13, whose bodies were found
Saturday afternoon in the wrecked Westphal plane, which crashed on a 1,000
foot Cumberland mountain ridge near Viola, Tenn.
The plane had been missing since early Wednesday afternoon, when it left
Owensboro, Ky., en route to West Palm Beach, Fla., near Lake Worth, where
Westphal had a winter home. The father and son left the airport here at 4
a.m. Wednesday.
Funeral services will be held at 2 p.m. Wednesday at the First German
Evangelical Lutheran Church, of which Westphal was a member. The Rev. L.H.
Koeninger will officiate and burial will be in Evergreen Cemetery.
Bodies Recovered
Wreckage of the Westphal plane was sighted Saturday afternoon by Pilot James
Martin and James Williams, an observer, of the Tullahoma (Tenn.) Civil Air
Patrol (CAP). A helicopter from Stewart Air Force base dropped to make the
final identification. A mobile unit of the CAP recovered the bodies and
returned them to a Minnville funeral home later in the afternoon.
CAP headquarters said Westphal had crashed when the cloud ceiling was only
900 feet. A Nashville CAP official said he had apparently flown straight into
the ridge without seeing it. The ridge is about 75 miles southeast of Nashville.
Residents in the area said they heard a low flying plane.
Several CAP planes and helicopters took part in the search Thursday and Friday
and were joined Saturday by other planes who scoured three state areas before
locating the wrecked plan in eastern Tennessee.
Born in Milwaukee
Westphal was born in Milwaukee in 1907 and when a young man came to Manitowoc
with his father, the late Otto Westphal, 27 years ago and established a paint
and varnish store on Washington Street. His father retired from the business in
1928 and joining Westphal in the business was Werner Wernecke, present manager
of Westphals, a home furnishing and hardware business, now located at North
Eighth and Buffalo Streets.
In addition to his church membership Westphal was a member of the Lutheran Men’s
Club, the Chamber of Commerce and the Izaak Walton League. He was the first
president of the Manitowoc Pilots Association.
He was also a member of the Credit Bureau Committee of the Chamber.
In 1930 he married Miss Gladys Christensen. She survives with a daughter, Barbara,
a freshman student at Northwestern University, Evanston; brother, Erwin of Green
Bay; two sisters, Mrs. Alfred Ramlow of Kenosha and Mrs. Otto Kempfert of Maribel;
and his stepmother, Mrs. Otto Westphal of Milwaukee.
Eighth Grade Pupil
Richard Charles Westphal was born in Manitowoc August 25, 1940. He was an eighth
grade Student in the German Lutheran School. In addition to his mother and sister,
he is survived by his maternal grandparents, Mr. and Mrs. A. M. Christensen of
Manitowoc.
Friends may call at the Urbanek and Schlei Funeral home after 2 p.m. Tuesday. The
bodies will be moved to the church at 10 a.m. Wednesday to lie in state until the
hour of services.
Manitowoc Herald Times, February 8, 1954 P. 1
*********
[d. 02-03-1954 at Morrison, TN/age 45 yrs.]