Waldner, Elias (d. 1969)

Mennonite Weekly Review obituary: 1969 Sep 18 p. 11

Birth date:

text of obituary:

Hazardous Summer Season

Fatal Accidents Among Hutterites By Paul S. Gross Espanola, Washington

FATAL ACCIDENTS among Hutterites and Mennonites in the northern United States and western Canada seemingly have claimed a higher toll this summer than ever before.

A summer season never passes by without accidents of various kinds among middle-aged as well as teen-aged peoples of these groups, but with the power and speed of modern tractors in the fields and yards, as well as cars and trucks on the highways, fatal accidents lurk just around the corner. Accidents by water and fire add to the toll.

MANY of the accidents can be credited to carelessness and some to overexertion of the human body. With precaution and care, many of these could be avoided. The corn picking season in late fall when farmers get the fever to "get it over with" also adds its toll of fatal accidents. Many farmers carry the "mark" of the cornpicker. Statistics show that there are more farm accidents in certain seasons than in others.

Early in the spring a teen-age Hutterite boy, Jacob Hofer, son of Rev. Joseph K. Hofer of the North Harlem, Mont. Colony, was instantly killed in a two-car crash. He was alone in his car. Road conditions were icy and a woman motorist rammed into him as their cars went out of control.

THE LAST WEEK of May, a middle-aged family man, John Koop of the Mennonite church at Pincher Creek, Alberta, was found dead in his field. His implement tractor was found wandering around in the field without a driver by his son. There was a large attendance of both Mennonite and Hutterite members at the funeral.

Also during the last week of May, Elias Waldner, manager of the Duncan Ranch Hutterite Colony near Harlowtown [sic Harlowton], Mont., was late home for lunch. He was cultivating the colony patch of potatoes, drove too close to an incline, and his tractor rolled over and pinned him underneath. They found him crushed to death. He leaves parents and a family to mourn his death, as well as the entire colony.

AGAIN during the last week of May a Hutterite lad, Joseph Kleinsasser, 20, son of Mr. and Mrs. Samuel Kleinsasser of the Rosedale Colony at Mitchel [sic Mitchell], S. D., was killed as he and a few other lads were testing the speed of a new tractor. They failed to make a turn at high speed and the tractor upset. The other boys were thrown several yards away, but young Joe was pinned underneath and killed instantly.

During the early part of July several teen-age boys of the Fairholme Hutterite Colony near Portage La Prairie, Manitoba went for a swim in the Assiniboine river. Edwald Gross, 20, son of Rev. and Mrs. Andrew Gross, was supposed to have been the best swimmer in the group. A whirlpool swept him away, and it is believed he contracted cramps and could not help himself. After four days his body was found four miles downstream.

THREE WEEKS later at the same Fairholme Colony, the field boss and work supervisor, John Meandel, 26, was killed by a D-6 crawler tractor. He was packing silage with the tractor, and was high enough that the tractor tumbled down when he got too close to the edge and fell on top of him. He was also the engineer and electrician of the colony. His parents, wife and baby boy are left to mourn his death.

On Aug. 7 the Cut Knife, Sask. Hutterite Colony was trucking steers and cattle to market. The last truck failed to arrive at the market yard, and one truck immediately returned to look for it. At the first railroad crossing they saw to their horror what had happened. On a curve, the fast dayliner passenger train had rammed squarely into the truck. The driver said they failed to notice the train. The elder minister, Joseph Wurz, was in the truck and was killed instantly. His 14-year-old son, who was also along, is still in critical condition in the hospital. The truck driver had only a foot broken. The cattle were all killed except one. The head of one steer landed in the cab of the engine and broke both feet of the engineer.