Kauffman, Jeffery Deon (1955-1974)

Mennonite Weekly Review obituary: 1974 Sep 5 p. 3

Birth date: 1955

text of obituary:

Fog Believed Cause

Three Young Men Killed In Kansas Plane Crash

MOUNDRIDGE, KAN. — Three young men, one a graduate of Hesston College and the other two about to begin their second year at Hesston, died when a private plane crashed into a field northeast of here early Friday morning, Aug. 30.

Dead are Wayne J. Wollman, 19, son of Dr. Willis Wollman, Moundridge dentist, and Mrs. Wollman; Jon Michael Yutzy, 18, son of Mr. and Mrs. Alvin Yutzy of Hannibal, Mo.; and Jeffery Deon Kauffman, 19, son of Mr. and Mrs. Jacob Kauffman of rural Iowa City, Ia.

The three took off from the Moundridge airport after 2 a.m. in the single engine plane owned by the Wollmans. After getting off work at a Moundridge plant, Wayne Wollman had secured permission from his father to take his friends up in the plane. The weather was clear at takeoff, but fog moved into the area a short time later.

THE PLANE crashed and burned in a plowed field not far from the farm home of Carl Rupp.

The cause of the crash is not definitely known, but it is believed to have occurred while Wayne was trying to find his way back to the Moundridge airport. Mr. Rupp was not awakened by the crash and did not discover it until after 8 a.m.

Funeral services for all three youths were held at 10 a.m. on Labor Day. Services for Jon Yutzy were conducted at the Lyon Street Mennonite Church, Hannibal; those for Jeffery Kauffman at the Lower Deer Creek Mennonite Church near Kalona, Ia. (although he was a member of the Upper Deer Creek Conservative Church, Wellman); and those of Wayne Wollman at the First Mennonite church of Moundridge.

Surviving Wayne in addition to his parents are four sisters, Janet, Jean, Wilma and Marilyn, all of the home, and the grandparents, Mrs. Elisabeth Wollman of Moundridge and Mr. and Mrs. Benjamin Tieszen of Marion, D. S. He was a 1974 graduate of Hesston College.