Gingerich, Larry (1938-1946)

Mennonite Weekly Review obituary: 1946 Sep 26 p. 1

Birth date: 1938

text of obituary:

GAS IN NEWLY FILLED SILO FATAL TO EIGHT YEAR OLD BOY

Wellman, Iowa. — Funeral services took place at the West Union Mennonite church near here on Sept. 20 for Larry Gingerich, eight year old son of Mr. and Mrs. Truman Gingerich whose accidental death on Wednesday, Sept. 18, resulted from poison gas in a newly-filled silo.

The tragedy occurred in the early morning when the boy and a playmate, Marlyn Swartzendruber, climbed up the side of a silo at the Gingerich farm. Larry dropped down on the ensilage, which had been placed in the silo only the previous day, and Marlyn saw him fall over backwards. She called the boy's mother, who summoned a neighbor, Glenwood Gingerich.

Glenwood Gingerich removed the body from the silo and applied artificial respiration. later a pulmotor was used, but all efforts at resuscitation failed.

Larry would have been eight years old on October 8. He is survived by his parents and two younger brothers, Gilbert, 4, and Wallace J., 2.