Obituaries #3 and Dangerous Potatoes

O'Rea O. Block died Friday at age 106. She was the ninth of 15 children.

Amy Sue (Uber) Brackbill, age 36, passed away on Saturday. She will be missed by her husband and five children. FairHoPe Hospice is thanked.

Dorothy M. Phelps died at 90 yesterday. She is not a relative that I know of. Every week when I drive from Lancaster to Washington Court House (OH) I pass a rather decrepit-looking farmhouse on Rt. 22. An old, crooked sign is out front noting the "Wardell Party Home." I've always thought that was pretty comical. The yard had a lot of "stuff" in it and I couldn't imagine what kind of parties were held there or the history behind the sign. I wondered about it. Well, it seems Ms. Phelps not only had "a great concern for homeless animals" but she was the "operator of the Wardell Party Home for many years."

Robert E. Grimes, age 32 died Friday. William Scheckermann, age 24, died Thursday "at home." He attended Franlin University. Amy Grimm Hagen, age 45, died Saturday. She was a geologist. Nathan Michael Kleeh, age 13 months, died Saturday of cancer. "Baby Trumayne Armon Smith . . . went home with the angels Wednesday."

A potato-gun explosion killed 1 and injured 3 others in Ohio on Saturday night. Klyle R. Thompson, age 21, died at the scene. "Excessive gunpowder and possibly a stuck potato made the pipe explode" perhaps driving pieces of metal into his torso. With him at the time was his brother-in-law (31) who was "hosting the potato shooting" another man age 22, and Robert Kiser, age 48, who was injured. I don't know any 48-year-old men who spend Sat. night launching potatoes from pipes. I have a feeling this sort of thing will give Midwesterners a bad reputation.

The County Coroner said "he had never heard of a potato shooting before." Have you?