Ionia County MI Archives Obituaries.....Townsend, Larry Sprague 1952
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Marilyn Ransom mlnransom@chartermi.net May 8, 2012, 7:52 pm

The Portland Observer, Thursday, September 18, 1952

Funeral services were held Monday afternoon at Neller Funeral Home for Larry 
Sprague Townsend, 19, of route 3, Portland, who was fatally injured in an auto 
accident late last Friday night.  Rev. Keith Avery officiated at the services, 
and burial was in Portland cemetery.  

Surviving are the parents, Mr. and Mrs. Forrest Townsend; sister, Mrs. William 
Dutcher, of Portland; grandmother, Mrs. Pearl Sprague, and grandfather, Ross 
Townsend, both of Portland.  Larry was born in Danby township March 14, 1933.

Following his son’s funeral, Mr. Townsend suffered a heart attack and was 
taken to St. Lawrence hospital, Lansing, where he is expected to be for 
another week or so.  He is reported as recovering satisfactorily.

The funeral was the largest ever held at Neller Funeral Home.  An estimated 
300 persons attended, and a public address system was set up so that persons 
not able to be in the funeral home and who were seated on the porch and lawn, 
could hear the services.  Bearers were David Lantz, Lee Swartout, Larry 
Braendle, Howard Smith, Robert Smith and Charles Willems.

Larry, who would have been a junior at Michigan State College this fall, 
graduated from Portland high school in 1950.  He was a member of the advanced 
section of the Reserve Officers Training Corps at Michigan State and also a 
member of the Agriculture Engineering honorary fraternity.

The accident in which Larry was fatally injured occurred at about 11:40 last 
Friday night at the intersection of Charlotte highway and Peake road about two 
miles south of Portland.  According to Chief of Police Jay Clark, Larry was 
headed south on Charlotte highway when his car was struck by an auto driven by 
Donald Fedewa, 17, of Portland, coming to the intersection on Peake road.  The 
Townsend car went out of control after being hit on the left front side, went 
into a ditch and came to rest on a fence about 100 feet away from the point of 
impact.  Chief Clark said the youth was thrown from the car and dragged some 
distance before finally being pinned beneath it.

The car was lifted to get him out from under it, and a doctor called to the 
scene.  However, he died about 15 minutes after the accident, according to 
Coroner Dale Kauffman, who attributed death to internal and chest injuries.  
Larry also received a broken leg and head injuries.

Occupants in the Fedewa car were uninjured.  Those in the car besides the 
driver were William Nurenberg, 16, route 1, Pewamo; John Luna, 17, Westphalia; 
and Larry Spitzley, 16, also of Westphalia.  The Fedewa car ended up in a 
ditch on the southwest side of the road after the crash.  Chief Clark said 
neither road is marked by stop signs.

A coroner’s jury was selected, in case the prosecutor decided to hold an 
inquest.  The men named to the jury were Guy Peake, Harry Kelly, Lee Kelly, 
Carl Smith, Leo Thelen and William Thelen.  Ionia County Sheriff Ben Neve was 
also called to the scene of the accident.



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