Ionia County MI Archives Obituaries.....Setchfield, Norman B. (Sonny Bennett) 1963 ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/mi/mifiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Sandy Heintzelman sheintz@iserv.net August 6, 2011, 9:52 pm Ionia Daily Sentinel Standard, 2 Jan 1963 One Killed And Two Are Injured The first fatality of the new year in the State of Michigan is believed to have occurred in Ionia county. State police of the Ionia post report one young man was killed instantly and two others injured, one of them seriously. The one car crashed and rolled one mile east of the Village of Lyons on Kimble road. The fatality was only a few yards from the home of the dead man and the car ended up in the front yard of the mother of one of the injured. Coroners Richard Hull and Dale Kauffman, and state police identified the driver of the automobile who was killed as being Norman B. Setchfield, 26 of route one Lyons. Coroner Kauffman said he died of a skull fracture and internal injuries. A passenger in the car and seriously injured was James LeRoy Schreiner, 22, route one Muir. He received severe internal injuries, skull fracture, possible back fracture and multiple lacerations and abrasions. Also injured was Jackie? L. Hayes, 25, of 1013 West street, Lansing. He received multiple lacerations and abrasions of the face and legs. Schreiner was transferred from Ionia County Memorial hospital to Butterworth in Grand Rapids and Hayes was released from Ionia hospital after treatment. State police said the car was traveling east on Kimble road and failed to make a curve when it crashed about 2 o’clock the morning of the first day of the new year. After going through the guard rails on the north side of the road the car went down a steep bank estimated to have been 15 or 20 feet. After hitting the flat ground it continued on its wheels and also rolled over and over until it ended up on its top in the front yard of the Schreiner home. State police said the car went approximately 250 feet from where it went through the guard rails to where it came to rest on its top. All three of the occupants were thrown out. The three young men had been at the Schreiner home earlier in the evening and had later gone to Muir. Relatives believe the men were returning to the Schreiner home when the driver lost control on the curve. Chief Deputy Sheriff Ralph Johnson was returning to Ionia from fatal accident near Lyons when he came upon another one car crash. He was traveling west on M21 when he noticed a set of approaching headlights disappear about a half mile west of State road. The headlights of his sheriff’s car soon picked up a light colored convertible on the north side to the road with the rear end projecting out onto the pavement. He brought his cruiser to a halt and found two occupants in the car who were dazed but not severely injured. The automobile apparently went out of control, veered to the north side of the road where it struck a tree nearly headon before it spun around heading northwest. Officer Johnson said the automobile was registered to Richard Herron who was the driver. Johnson said Herron and his passenger, Mrs. Herron were taken to the Ionia County Memorial hospital by ambulance but had left when he arrived after having the car hauled away by a wrecker. Wednesday morning Mr. and Mrs. Herron returned to the hospital. He was admitted with an injury near the left eye and she was x-rayed for fracture of the jaw. Last year there were 14 fatalities on the highways of Ionia county which was three less than in 1961. The first fatality in 1962 did not occur until March 31 but on that date three persons, father, mother and a son were killed when their station wagon was struck by a freight train at the crossing south of Clarksville. Setchfield, also known as Sonny Bennett, was the son of Mr. and Mrs. Ray S. Bennett and was a farm worker. He was born July 17, 1936 in Lyons and attended school there. In addition to his parents he is survived by two half brothers, James Bennett of Lyons and Charles Bennett of Portland, four half sisters, Mrs. Barbara Lemke of Muir, Mrs. Frances Shattuck of Ionia, Karen and Vicki at home, and his maternal grandmother, Mrs. John Raglin of Lyons. Funeral service will be Thursday afternoon at 2 o’clock at Estep funeral home, Muir. The Rev. Rudy Wittenback of Lowell will officiate and burial will be in Lyons cemetery. Bearers will be Ronald Schaefer, Kent Schaefer, Richard Schaefer, Mitchell Bennett, Larry Mulnix and Ronald Cole. File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/mi/ionia/obits/s/setchfie15799nob.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.net/mifiles/ File size: 4.9 Kb