Basinger, Amos (1903-1973)

Mennonite Weekly Review obituary: 15 Mar 1973, p. 3

Birth date: 1903

text of obituary

Highway Crashes Take Two Lives in Ohio

Kidron, Ohio. — Two related highway crashes at US-30 intersections just a mile apart claimed the lives of a Dalton man and a Bluffton woman.

Miss Dora E. Kirchhofer, 73, of Bluffton was killed March 3 while en route to Orrville to view the body of Amos Basinger, 70, of rural Dalton, who had been fatally injured on the same highway two days earlier.

Mr. Basinger suffered fatal head injuries when the school bus he was driving collided with a cattle truck at the highway's intersection with a county road.

Miss Kirchhofer and her brother, Roy M. Kirchhofer, 73, of the Wayne County Home were passengers in a car driven by Frieda K. Lehman of Bluffton when it was hit by an oncoming car after making a left turn to leave US-30 at Ohio-57. The other car was driven by Leon M. Schlabach, 23, of rural Orrville. Miss Lehman, Mr. Kirchhofer and Mr. Schlabach all escaped serious injury.

Funeral services for Mr. Basinger were held Sunday afternoon, March 4, at Martins Mennonite Church. Services for Miss Kirchhofer were conducted March 7 at the Salem Mennonite Church with Rev. Ben Rahn, the pastor, and Rev. Stanley Bohn of Bluffton officiating. She was a native of the Dalton community and former cafeteria employee at Bluffton College.