Garvin Co OK - Obit for Howard Francis

submitted by Leslie Crosby Carignan  e-mail:  LCrosby@ix.netcom.com
************************************************************************
USGENWEB ARCHIVES NOTICE:  These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced 
in any format for profit or presentation by any other organization or
persons.  Persons or organizations desiring to use this material, must
obtain the written consent of the contributor, or the legal representative
of the submitter, and contact the listed USGenWeb archivist with proof 
of this consent. The submitter has given permission to the USGenWeb 
Archives to store the file permanently for free access.
http://www.usgwarchives.net/
***********************************************************************

I have added and corrected names and locations in brackets where they are 
known to me.  

[Unknown newspaper - clipping did not include the source name or date, 
but I know that he died 25 Oct 1948.  Howard Francies/Francis was a 
native of Wynnewood and the son of Homer Gurdian and Ida Bellzora (Losson) Francies.]

Kress Man, 29, Burned to Death

Plainview, Oct. 25 (Special) --
Howard Francis, 25 years old [actually 27 years old], of Kress, was burned 
to death about 5:40 o'clock, 7 miles north and 3 miles east of here.  
The tragedy occurred when the fully loaded butane truck, driven by Francis, 
overturned and caught on fire.

Francis was driving east on a dirt road, when he came to an intersection, 
where main road turned north, while another road continued east.  The truck 
overturned and stopped northeast of the intersection, almost in front of 
the home of O.T. Staggs.

Staggs was sitting in a pickup truck in front of his garage, about 175 feet 
from where the truck finally landed.  His attention was attracted when the 
truck overturned.

W.C. Evans, a neighbor, was inside the Staggs' residence.  When he heard 
the crash of the overturning vehicle, he ran to the door.

Both Stags and Evans ran towards the truck, now blazing.  Francis was 
partially out of the truck cab, evidently trying to extricate himself from 
the inferno.

By the time the two men got to Francis, his clothing was burned from his body.  
The men managed to drag Francis from the cab and pulled him away.

Francis lay on the ground until an ambulance from the Ray Woods Funeral 
Home in Plainview arrived.

Fire was roaring six feet into the air from an open popoff valve, but efforts 
of firefighters from the Plainview Fire Department to extinguish the blaze were 
unsuccessful.

Gene Bumpus, of the Plainview butane company from which Francis had pulled away 
not more than 10 or 20 minutes before the tragedy, estimated the fire would 
not burn itself out before morning.  The truck contained 1,245 gallons of butane.

The transport belonged to Carl Losson of Kress.  Francis was a nephew of 
Losson, who operates a service station and butane business at Kress.

Survivors of Francis include: his wife, Mrs. Betty Francis of Kress; two sons, 
Bobby, [illegible, 2?]; and Jimmy Carl, [illegible, 9 mos?]; his mother, Mrs. 
Ida Francis of Kress; three brothers [sic - only one brother listed though 
others survived him], Ben Francis of Elk City, [sisters:] Mrs. Edna McGuire
of Sulphur, Okla., Mrs. Mary [Ida Mae, not Mary] Lee of Kress, and Mrs. Lola 
Pate [Zola Tate, not Lola Pate] and Mrs. Bernice Stice, both of Dozier.

Funeral arrangements are pending at Ray Woods Funeral Home here.