Delbert Benton and Stephen Dwyer Sr. and Mrs. Steve Dwyer
Delbert Benton, 37, Wesley, suffered fatal injuries in a railroad crossing accident that instantly killed his father-in-law
Stephen Dwyer Sr., 70, Humboldt, about 1 a.m. Sunday at Waterloo. In the same accident Mrs. Benton's right leg
was broken, Mrs. Stephen Dwyer Jr., was so critically hurt that recovery is problematical, and her husband received
a double fractured knee cap.
Fred Harr and Milton Bebo, who were employed by Mr. Benton, drove to Waterloo Sunday to bring back the car the
Bentons had driven there on Saturday. They talked with Mrs. Benton who never lost consciousness and her account
of the accident follows:
Mr. and Mrs. Benton left Wesley Saturday afternoon (their four little girls remained at home in the care of Mrs.
Irene Studer) and started to Waterloo for the weekend with Mrs. Benton's brother Stephen Dwyer Jr., and his wife.
At Humboldt they stopped and took the latter's father, Stephen Dwyer Sr., with them. They arrived at Waterloo that
evening and had been visiting for a time when it was suggested they go out for something to eat. They went in Stephen
Dwyer's 1946 Ford. The younger Mr. Dwyer, a navy veteran, was blinded four years ago and his wife drove the car.
Returning about 1 a.m. Sunday their car was struck by a Rock Island freight6 train at a crossing obscured by a
large soy bean plant at the edge of Waterloo.
The train carried the car 300 feet before it came to a stop. The occupants, it is reported, remained in the car
and they were removed by passing motorists who stopped to give aid. Mrs. Benton identified those in the car and
asked that a coroner, be summoned. Mr. Benton critically hurt, died at a Waterloo hospital at 8 a.m. Sunday. The
car's front was so bent and twisted that it was 45 minutes before Mrs. Dwyer could be removed and taken to a hospital.
At the hospital Monday morning Mrs. Benton was operated on and a silver plate was put in the limb between and knee
and hip. She was reported in good condition Monday night.
Mr. Benton operated a truck line out of Wesley and had been busy up till the time he left Saturday. He was born
Jan. 15, 1910, at Wesley, a son of Mr. and Mrs. Wallace Benton. He attended grade school and was graduated from
the high school at Wesley. On Aug. 6, 1939, he was married to Margaret Dwyer at Fort Dodge by the Rev. J. T. Davern,
formerly of Algona.
The funeral will be held Thursday at 2:30 p.m. in the Methodist church at Wesley. The Rev. J. A. Riggs will conduct
the rites. Burial will be in St. Joseph's Catholic cemetery east of town. Pallbearers will be Fred Harr, Norbert
Hilbert, Milton Bebo, Ed Neuroth, Zeno Neuroth, also Claus Tibben, of Eagle Grove, all of whom were in Mr. Benton's
employ.
Survivors are the wife and daughters Evalon, 6; Doris, 4; Connie, 3; Ellen 14 months; the father Wallace Benton
and sisters, Mrs. Arnold Kossack, Hayward, Calif.; Mrs. Don White and Mrs. Jos. Matern, both of Des Moines, and
Virginia, Belmont, Calif.
Wallace Benton had gone to California for the winter with Mrs. Kossack and they with Virginia are expected to arrive
Wednesday morning at Boone. Mrs. Matern and Mrs. White are both at Delbert's home and his small daughters who were
taken to Humboldt Sunday returned to their home and the care of their aunts Monday evening.
The elder Mr. Dwyer's funeral has been set for Thursday morning at the Catholic church at Humboldt.
Word was received Friday that Mrs. Steve Dwyer had died that afternoon. In the same accident she suffered broken
arms, legs, and back. She never regained consciousness, and is survived by a blind husband who suffered a double
fracture of a knee in the accident. Four small children, the youngest only a month old, also survive.
Funeral services for Mr. Dwyer were held at the Catholic church, Humboldt, Friday morning.
The four small Benton daughters were taken to Des Moines Friday after their father's funeral, and will be cared
for by their fathers' sister, Mrs. (Audra) Don White till other arrangements are made.
Wallace Benton and his two daughters, Virginia and Mrs. Irma Dee Kossack, left Friday from Des Moines for their
homes in California. They had been called here by the death of their son and brother Delbert Benton several weeks
ago, in a car-train collision at Waterloo. They had spent the week following the funeral at the homes of their
sisters, the Joe Materns and Don Whites in Des Moines.
Evalon Benton, oldest daughter of the Delbert Bentons, is at the White home in Des Moines and attends kindergarten
which is taught by Mrs. Matern. The three younger daughters are in a newly organized Catholic home for pre-school
children. Mrs. Benton, who suffered a broken leg, is now in the General hospital in Algona.
Friends here have called on Mrs. Delbert Benton at the Kossuth hospital, where she is expected to have to remain
several weeks longer for treatment of injuries suffered in the car-train accident of some weeks ago at Waterloo.
Last week Sunday Mr. and Mrs. Kenneth Dwyer, Doris Dwyer, and Irene Hanig went to Des Moines, and took the four
young Benton daughters, who had been at Don White's, to the home of the maternal grandmother Mrs. S. E. Dwyer,
Humboldt. Doris remained at her mother Mrs. Dwyer's to help care for the children during the next few weeks.
Kenneth Dwyer brought the three small Steven Dwyer children here the same day. The six weeks baby is being cared
for by Humboldt relatives. Bernadette Bauer is helping Mrs. Dwyer here.
[1947 - Contributed by a Friend of Free Genealogy]
