DELP, Roderick Melvin - 1965 - Fountain County INGenWeb Project

KINGMAN – A blowout of the right front tire was believed responsible Friday for a single-car crash on Ind. 234 whch fatally injured Roderick M. Delp, 20, of Rt. 1 Kingman. Investigating officers, including state police and Sheriff George Cruea of Fountain County, said the accident occurred about 9:30 a.m. as Delp was driving east on the highway about three miles west of Kingman, apparently headed for town. The 1955 Chevrolet in which he was riding alone glanced off the south end of the Mill Creek bridge and plunged over an embankment into the creek bed. The impact tore the motor out of the car. The young driver died in an ambulance in Vermillion County en route to a hospital, Sheriff Cruea reported. Death was attributed to a skull fracture. Officers said the tire that was blown was thin and believed the blowout probably caused Delp to lose control of the vehicle as he approached the bridge. The body of the victim was removed to the Woodrow Funeral Home here. It was the seventh fatality on roads in Fountain County this year. Roderick Melvin Delp was a Fountain County native, born March 29, 1945, to Gerald and Valeria Schefke Delp. He was a member of the Waterman Baptist Church at Lodi. The young man was employed at the Romney Fertilizer Co., but was not working Friday. Survivors include the parents, with whom he lived; three brothers, Leroy of Crawfordsville, an employe of R. R. Donnelley & Sons Co., and Larry and Elwood, at home; four sisters, Mrs. Carolyn Johnson of Lafayette and Janice, Dianna and Sandra, all at home, and  the grandmothers, Mrs. Marjorie Delp of near Kingman and Mrs. Mary Schefke of Bakersfield, Calif. Funeral services are set for 2 p.m. Sunday at the Waterman Baptist Church with Rev. Bernie Finch officiating. The body will be taken to the church an hour preceding the funeral. Burial will be in Kingman Fraternal Cemetery. Friends may call at the funeral home here at 2-4 and 7-9 p.m. Saturday.   – jlr