Articles pertaining to the car accident which took the lives of Charles Edgar Clements and Roger Lee Clements, and which left Doris Irene (Brewer) Clements partially paralyzed and brain damaged. For more, visit their 'grave' at Savannah City Cemetery.
This article appeared in the King City newspaper
Father and Child Killed in Crash.
Charles Edgar Clements, 25, and 13 months old Son Die Instantly Mrs. Clements Critically Injured Hit by Speeding Truck Charged with manslaughter in connection with the tragic truck-car collision Saturday night, north of King City, Gene Smith, driver of the truck is liberty on $2,000 bond pending his preliminary hearing set for Tuesday, Feb. 1 at Albany. He is a son of Mr. & Mrs. Cleo Smith of near Guilford. A young father and his 13 months old son were killed instantly and their wife and mother received possibly fatal injuries late Saturday night in a collision on Highway US 69 four miles north of King City which was one of the most tragic accidents in years in this locality. The dead are Charles Edgar Clements, 25, and Roger Lee Clements, 13 months old. Mrs. Charles Clements is in Mercy Hospital, St. Joseph and still had not regained consciousness yesterday, it was reported. Also injured in the collision were Gene Smith, 20, and Herschel Bowman, 21, both of near Guilford. The young men were detained in custody of the State highway patrol for questioning in connection with the accident, and manslaughter charges have been filed against Smith, driver of the truck. The accident occurred a short distance north of the Karr school road corner. Clements and his wife and baby, in their Ford V-8 car were returning from a visit in the home of his brother, west of the highway on the road at the John R. Limpp, Persons who visited the scene said track of the Clements car indicated he had pulled over on the highway shoulder, apparently in an effort to avoid being run down by the other vehicle, which approached from the south. Smith and Bowman had been in driving an International 2-ton truck owned by Charles Kennedy of Guilford. The truck evidently was being driven at high speed, and it was said it carried the car a distance of ninety feet or more from the point of collision on the highway shoulder. Car and truck, both badly demolished, were towed to the Pettijohn garage here on orders of the state highway patrol. Rex Jameson, on his way home from King City, was first to reach the scene of the wreck. He found Mrs. Clements unconscious in the snow and near her baby's body, some distance from their crushed motor car. In the dim light he could not recognize them nor the body of Mr. Clements. When another car reached the scene, Jameson left to go to a telephone and summon aid, still uncertain of the identity of the wreck victims. Funeral services for the young father and baby were held jointly Wednesday afternoon at the Christian Church here and burial was at the Savannah Cemetery. The Rev. B. S. M. Edwards conducted the funeral , and military rites were in charge of King City Post No. 132, The American Legion, of which Clements had been a member since his discharge from army service in 1946. Charles Edgar Clements was a son of Mr. and Mrs. O. L. Clements of Ford City,. He was born Jan. 17, 1924 at Deepwater, Clinton, County, MO, but had lived near King City most of his life and attended the King City high school. He entered army service May 22, 1944, and served overseas with the 83rd Division. He was wounded in the "Battle of the Bulge" and was awarded the Purple Heart decoration. He was honorably discharged April 23rd, 1946
'He was married Sept. 14, 1946, to Doris Brewer, and Roger Lee, born Dec. 7, 1947, was their only child. The young father had been a member of the Island City Christian Church since his confession of faith in 1943. He was a devoted husband and father, a good neighbor and a friend held in the high esteem of all who knew him. Surviving Mr. Clements are his wife, his parents, two sisters, Mrs. Raymond Deering of Union Star and Mrs. Melvin Hagan of Savannah; seven brothers, Marvin Clements of Stanberry, Elmer and Houston Clements of St. Joseph, Clell Clements of Pickering, Chester Clements of King City, Louis Clements of Whitesville and John Clements of Rea; and thirteen nephews and eighteen nieces. The Clements baby is survived by these relatives and his maternal grandparents, Mr. and Mrs. Orville Brewer and a great-grandmother, Mary McCrory.