Goertzen, Carolyn Joyce Dickerson (1939-1971)

Mennonite Weekly Review obituary: 1971 Jul 8 p. 3

Birth date: 1939

text of obituary:

Kansas Pastor's Wife Killed in Accident

Hutchinson, Kan. — Funeral services were held at the Crestview Bible Church (E.M.B.) here Monday forenoon for Mrs. Carolyn Joyce Goertzen, 32, who died instantly in a highway accident in Oklahoma on July 1. Her husband, Rev. Rodney Goertzen, a pastor of the church.

Rev. Harold Burkholder of Omaha officiated at the service, after which the body was taken to Henderson, Neb. for burial.

Rev. and Mrs. Goertzen were driving to Houston, Texas for a church-related convention, and at about 2:30 a.m. at the edge of Purcell, Okla. came upon a tractor trailer which had overturned in their lane of traffic on I-35. With visibility limited by heavy rain, the Goertzen car struck and killed Michael Karva, 25, of Oelwein, Iowa, who was trying to flag down oncoming traffic, and then crashed into the overturned trailer. Karva was killed instantly, and Mrs. Goertzen died at the scene. Rev. Goertzen was not seriously hurt.

Besides her husband, Mrs. Goertzen leaves four children, Katherine, Richard, David, and Steven, all of the home; a brother, James Dickerson of Goodland, Kan.; and her parents, Mr. and Mrs. Dale Dickerson of Billings, Mont.