WALLS, Marion Robert - Fountain County INGenWeb Project

A 58-year-old Crawfordsville man, Marion Robert Walls, died early Friday morning in the bedroom of his home at 1006 E. Chestnut St. in a fire which fire department officials believed was caused by smoking in bed. Walls was the father of eleven children ranging in age from adult to five-years-old. His wife died Dec. 12 of last year. Seven of the younger children were at home when the fire took place. According to a son-in-law, Donald Zachary, 1517 Payton St., Walls' daughter, 16-year-old Joyce, awoke during the night when she smelled smoke. She called her 17-year-old sister, Carol, and together they pulled their father from the burning bed in which he was lying. They then called the fire department. Firemen arrived at 12:55 a.m. at the residence and were directed to the bedroom where Walls was lying on the floor, according to the fire department report. The man was badly burned about the face, arms and hands. Firemen attempted to revive him with oxygen and sent for Dr. Samuel Millis, county coroner. When Dr. Millis arrived, he examined Walls and pronounced him dead of burns and smoke inhalation, according to the police report. Firemen extinguished the burning bed and bedding as other firemen were attempting to help Walls. They listed $75 damage to the bed and bedding and reported that cigarettes and a lighter were found on a stand beside the bed leading them to the conclusion that the fire was caused by smoking in bed. They also reported that there was some delay in reaching the residence after the fire call because of sewer project work in the area near the home. It was reported that the victim of the fire had been in failing health for several years. Before illness forced him to retire in March of 1963, he had been employed at the Raybestos-Manhattan Inc., plant here. Born Aug, 1, 1906 in Warren County, Ind., near Covington, he was the son of Frank and Melissa Ballard Walls. In 1929, he married Linnie Burnson. She preceded him in death on April 22, 1936 in Covington. There were no children of the marriage. On Feb. 15, 1941, he married the niece of his first wife, Mrs. Louise Eileen Martin Wrightsman, in Rockville. She was the mother of four children by a previous marriage. The couple began housekeeping in Covington and moved to Crawfordsville in 1948. Prior to that time, the deceased had been a farmer in the Fountain County area. He attended the Crawfordsville Assembly of God Church. He was preceded in death by a brother, a half-brother, two-year-old daughter, Violet, and a stillborn son. Survivors include eleven children, Mrs. Don Fuller of New Market; Mrs. Donald Zachary of Crawfordsville; John Thomas Walls, 18, of Crawfordsville; Carol, 17; twins, Joyce and Janice, 16; Don Robert, 14; Daniel, 12; David, 9; Steven, 8, and Melissa, 5, all at home; four stepchildren, Loran Wrightsman and Mrs. Robert Davis, both of Covington, and Mrs. Roy Baker and Mrs. Max Melvin, both of Crawfordsville, four grandchildren and 19 step-grandchildren. Other survivors are two brothers, Archie Walls and Roy Walls, both of Veedersburg. Services will be held at 11 a.m. Monday at the Bright Funeral Home in Crawfordsville. Rev. John E. Smith of West Terre Haute, former pastor of the Crawfordsville Assembly of God Church, will officiate. Burial will be in Masonic Cemetery. Friends may call at the funeral home after noon Sunday.   --typed by Walt W