Clippings

Do you have newspaper clippings in your genealogy files that have no source information? Do those clippings provide vital information that you can’t find in another source?

That’s my situation with one of the obituaries for my grandmother’s twin brother, Paul Mentzer. Paul died in Colorado. According to his death certificate, he died from a fractured skull.

This death certificate raises the question as to how Paul Mentzer fractured his skull. An obituary was located in the Iola Register from Iola, Kansas that does not provide any clues as to how this injury happened.

Paul Mentzer Rites Tuesday
(Special to the Register)
Neosho Falls, Aug. 17 — Word was received here by relatives Saturday of the death of Paul Mentzer of Springfield, Colo. Mr. Mentzer who was 46 years old, was a former resident of Neosho Falls but for the past 7 years had taught in the schools at Springfield.
The body arrived in Iola this morning and was accompanied by Mrs. Mentzer and the couple’s two sons, Delos and Eugene. Before her marriage Mrs. Mentzer was Ada Saferite of Neosho Falls.
He is also survived by his father, C. O. Mentzer, Neosho Falls; two sisters, Mrs. Pauline Briles and Mrs. Gladys Green of Emporia; and two brothers, Leslie, Neosho Falles, and Herbert of near LeRoy.
Funeral services will be held Tuesday afternoon at 2 o’clock at the Neosho Falls Methodist Church with burial in Cedarvale cemetery.

“Paul Mentzer Rites Tuesday,” The Iola Register (Iola, Kansas), 17 August 1942, page 1; digital image, Newspapers.com (www.newspapers.com : viewed online 23 December 2019).

Having found one obituary in the Iola Register, one might not continue looking. However, I didn’t stop looking and found one with a few more details.

News of Neosho Falls
Neosho Falls, Aug. 19 – Funeral services for Paul Mentzer, who was accidentally killed while working on a building at Springfield, Colo., Saturday afternoon, was held at the Methodist church here Tuesday afternoon at 2 o’clock, conduced by the Rev. R. L. Kuhns, pastor of the church. A mixed quartet composed of Mr. and Mrs. Eugene Leedy, Miss Marion Farhum and Herbert Tidd sang “Beautiful Isle of Somewhere” and “No, Night There” accompanied on the piano by Mrs. Ray Tidd. Interment was made in Cedervale cemetery here.

“News of Neosho Falls,” The Iola Register (Iola, Kansas), 20 August 1942, page 2; digital image, Newspapers.com (www.newspapers.com : viewed online 26 July 2021).

However, it is that clipping that my grandmother saved that has the most information. Unfortunately, I haven’t been able to locate a digital copy of the obituary.

Local Teacher Killed in Fall from Roof of High Bldg.
Paul Mentzer, 46, manual training insructor in the high school died at the Maxwell hospital in Lamar Friday night at 8:30, after suffering fatal injuries in a fall from the road of the local high school about 5:30 Friday afternoon. He suffered a fractured skill.
With John Baro and M. O. White, janitors, he was repairing the roof of the school building, when a rope on a scaffold on which he was working broke. He lost his balance and fell about twnety feet tot he roof of the furnace room. He was rushed to a physician and then taken to Lamar. He died without regaining consciousness.
Survivors include his wife, Ada M. Mentzer, and two sons, Deloss, 19, and Eugene 14, all of Springfield. He came to this school system at mid-term last year from Denver, where he had been a patient in the fitzsimmons hospital for injuries received in the last war. He had been retired as instructor again this year.
Funeral services were held Sunday afternoon at 2 o’clock from the Methodist church. The body was shipped to Neosho Falls, Kas., for burial. The Rich Funeral Home was in charge of arrangements.
Mr. Mentzer’s cheerful presence will be sorely missed in our schools this year. During his short residence in Springfield he had mad a great many friends. he was ever popular among both faculty and student body.

Thus, I’m thankful that my grandmother saved the clipping. I just wished she had provided a few details about where she got the obituary. I’m also thankful I have kept these unsourced obituaries that my grandmothers saved.