CRANE'S BOOM KILLS IOWAN (The Register's Iowa News Service) ROCKWELL CITY. IA. - A 19-year-old Waterloo youth was killed Monday when he was struck by the boom of a crane during a dredging operation on a lake north of here. Authorities said Wayne Ahrenholz died instantly of a fractured skull and broken neck. It was the fourth Ahrenholz family tragedy in recent years. TWO of the victim's uncles have died in industrial accidents and his sister took her own life last year. Ahrenholz, a student at Wartburg College at Waverly where lie would have been a sophomore, was working for the summer for his grandfather's company, the Oscar Ahrenholz and Sons Excavating Co. of Waterloo. Culhoun County Sheriff Lc- roy Morgan gave this account of the accident: Ahrenholz was standing on a | pontoon in front of a dredging i barge which was anchored in North Twin Lake, about 7 miles north of here. The dredging crane was unattended. Suddenly a gear or locking 1 device holding up the crane's boom came loose and it smashed down on top of the youth, knocking him into the water. 4 He was pulled from the water immediately by fellow workers but had been killed outright. The series of family tragedies began in August, 1953, when an uncle, Henry Ahrenholz, then 31, died of injuries received in a welding shop explosion. In 1961, the boy's father, Andrew, narrowly escaped death when he was buried in a ditch cave-in in Waterloo. Fellow workers dug him out and revived him. In October, 1967, another uncle, Marion. 39, drowned in the Cedar River in Waterloo when he slipped off an icy pipe during a dredging operation. He had been working with his brother in the 1961 cave-in but escaped being buried. In January, 1968, Karen Ahrenholz, 20, was found dead of carbon monoxide poisoning. Surviving Wayne Ahrenholz are his parents, grandparents and a brother. Funeral arrangements are pending at the Kerns Dykeman Funeral Home in Waterloo.Publication: The Des Moines Register i Location: Des Moines, IowaIssue Date: Tuesday, July 29, 1969Page:

CRANE'S BOOM KILLS IOWAN (The Register's Iowa News Service) ROCKWELL CITY. IA. - A 19-year-old Waterloo youth was killed Monday when he was struck by the boom of a crane during a dredging operation on a lake north of here. Authorities said Wayne Ahrenholz died instantly of a fractured skull and broken neck. It was the fourth Ahrenholz family tragedy in recent years. TWO of the victim's uncles have died in industrial accidents and his sister took her own life last year. Ahrenholz, a student at Wartburg College at Waverly where lie would have been a sophomore, was working for the summer for his grandfather's company, the Oscar Ahrenholz and Sons Excavating Co. of Waterloo. Culhoun County Sheriff Lc- roy Morgan gave this account of the accident: Ahrenholz was standing on a | pontoon in front of a dredging i barge which was anchored in North Twin Lake, about 7 miles north of here. The dredging crane was unattended. Suddenly a gear or locking 1 device holding up the crane's boom came loose and it smashed down on top of the youth, knocking him into the water. 4 He was pulled from the water immediately by fellow workers but had been killed outright. The series of family tragedies began in August, 1953, when an uncle, Henry Ahrenholz, then 31, died of injuries received in a welding shop explosion. In 1961, the boy's father, Andrew, narrowly escaped death when he was buried in a ditch cave-in in Waterloo. Fellow workers dug him out and revived him. In October, 1967, another uncle, Marion. 39, drowned in the Cedar River in Waterloo when he slipped off an icy pipe during a dredging operation. He had been working with his brother in the 1961 cave-in but escaped being buried. In January, 1968, Karen Ahrenholz, 20, was found dead of carbon monoxide poisoning. Surviving Wayne Ahrenholz are his parents, grandparents and a brother. Funeral arrangements are pending at the Kerns Dykeman Funeral Home in Waterloo.Publication: The Des Moines Register i Location: Des Moines, IowaIssue Date: Tuesday, July 29, 1969Page: