| Fritz Harper Abernathy | |
| Born | |
| Died | |
| Buried | [[ ()|]] |
| Father | [[]] |
| Mother | [[]] |
Obituary
Ottumwa Courier, Monday, 8 June 1964, page 1, columns 8-9.
Was Ottumwan
Car Crash Kills Fritz Abernathy
Fritz Harper Abernathy, 24, of 513 N. Court, was injured fatally in a two-car crash one-fourth mile west of Rome stop on Highway 34 in Henry County Saturday about 3:30 p.m. He died en route to University Hospitals in Iowa City.
James Ellis, 21 of Oskaloosa, a passenger in the car driven by Abernathy, and James Martin Nelson, 28, of Des Moines, driver of the other car, were taken to Memorial Hospital in Mouth Pleasant. Ellis sustained a concussion and head and chin lacerations not believed serious, officials of the State Highway Patrol in Fairfield said today.
NELSON was accompanied by his wife. He was treated for lacerations. She was not injured.
According to the Highway Patrol, Abernathy, traveling west attempted to pass another car and failed to get back into his lane. He struck the east-bound car driven by Nelson. Both cars, Buicks, were completely demolished, the Patrol official said.
Abernathy had lived in Ottumwa all his life. He was born here April 16, 1940, the son of Walter F. and Blossom Harper Abernathy. He graduated from Wayne High School in Chicago, Ill., in 1963.
HE WAS a member of Trinity Episcopal Church.
Surviving are his wife, Connie; a daughter, Joannie Lee Abernathy; and his mother, Mrs. Blossom Hallberg of Ottumwa Route 4. His father died Dec. 22, 1954.
The service was at 2:30 p.m. today at the Johnson Funeral Chapel with the Rev. James L. Postel, rector of the Trinity Episcopal Church, officiating. Burial was in Blakesburg Cemetery.