08/21/1953
Geno Betty (Crouch) Anderson was born on Mar. 16, 1922, in Knoxville, Marion County, Iowa daughter of Charles Lee Crouch (1890 – 1953) and Lena Hazel Kendrick (1899 – 1935).
She graduated from Knoxville, Iowa High School in 1940 and was united in marriage to Melvin Anderson.
The funeral services of the late Mrs. Betty Geno Anderson of Moline, Ill., who lost her life Aug. 21, 1953, in an Auto accident, east of Sigourney, Keokuk County, Iowa, early last Friday morning, were held from the Evans funeral home yesterday afternoon at 2 o’clock conducted by Rev. M. D. Summerbell, pastor of the Methodist church.
Burial was at the Zion Cemetery, Pershing, Marion County, Iowa.
Mrs. Betty Geno Anderson, 31, of Moline, Ill., a former resident of Knoxville, burned to death beneath her overturned auto at 5:30 a.m. last Friday, eleven miles east of Sigourney, on Primary 92.
Mrs. Anderson’s son, David, 4, Injured seriously, was thrown clear of the overturned
machine. He was taken to University hospitals in Iowa City.
Mrs. Anderson was a daughter of the late Lee Crouch, of Knoxville, who died recently.
Her son, Matt Anderson, had been staying at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Phil Crouch
for the summer and Mrs. Anderson was on her way to Knoxville for a visit with him
when the accident occurred.
She was born and raised in Knoxville. Mrs. Anderson, the Wife of Melvin Anderson, and
her son were the only two In the car. It went off the highway, plunged through a
fence, and overturned in a ditch. Mrs. Anderson was pinned under the wreckage by
one leg and when the car caught fire she was burned to death before she could be
rescued.
The Sigourney fire department was called to the scene to put out the fire. The wrecked
car was hauled to Sigourney. It was so badly damaged that it could not be towed
it had to be loaded onto a truck.
The crash occurred in front of the Vincent Schulte farm. Schulte heard the crash
and he and a neighbor, Raymond Linnekamp dragged Mrs. Anderson from the burning
machine and called the fire department. Firemen said Mrs. Anderson was dead when
they arrived.