Obit: Braun, Laverne (1929 - 1938)

Contact: Stan
Email: stan@wiclarkcountyhistory.org

Surnames: BRAUN

----Sources: Marshfield News Herald (Marshfield, Wis.) 12/10/1938

Braun, Laverne (23 NOV 1929 - 9 DEC 1938)

Death chalked the number 10 on Clark County’s 1938 highway fatality list last night and the Christmas season into a period of mourning for the parents and the nine brothers and sisters of 9-year-old Laverne Braun.

It happened during the early darkness that follows on the heals of chore time on Central Wisconsin farms. Highway 73 dips where it passes the building of the Benedict Braun farm, 2 miles north of here (Greenwood, Clark Co., Wis.), and Laverne and his brothers, Gerald and Arthur, thought the "dip" made "swell" coasting.

Pulling their sleds out into the road, they tried it three times. They were taking the third slide down the grade when August Arndt drove by on the way to his home at Neillsville, Wis.

From the south came another car, driven by Donald Dixon, on his way too, to his farm a few miles north of the Braun place. His headlights shone into August Arndt’s eyes.

Outside the bright beams of light thrown by the two cars Arndt saw sleds and boys. He swerved, but too late. He hadn’t seen Laverne.

They carried the boy into the Braun home and called a doctor. But Death didn’t wait for the doctor. A broken neck, a fractured left leg, head injuries, the medical man said.

Coroner P.C. Ludovic and Traffic Officer Lewis Bradbury came from Neillsville, Wis. They heard the stories told by Arndt and the two little brothers. It was an accident, the Coroner said, and no inquest would be necessary.

On Monday morning, at 9 o’clock, funeral rites will be held at St. Mary’s Catholic Church in Greenwood, with the Rev. J.J. Novak officiating. Burial will take place in the Greenwood Cemetery.

Surviving besides the parents, Mr. and Mrs. Benedict Braun, are four sisters and five brothers; Marie, Bernice, Rosella, Corrinne, Robert, Vincent, Gerald, Arthur, and Ronald.

Marie and Bernice, employed in Chicago, arrived today to attend the funeral.

Laverne was born at Greenwood on Nov. 23, 1929.