In Memory

Kevin Eldridge

Kevin Eldridge

FD MAN IS KILLED IN MOPED ACCIDENT 

A van-moped accident Tuesday night has claimed the life of a Fort Dodge man.  Kevin Eldridge, 20, 319 1/2 N. 8th St. 

Police said Eldridge, who was driving a moped, was eastbound on the Karl King Bridge and struck a van driven by Scott Marrs, 23, 328 Country Club Drive, head-on. 

The north half of the bridge has been closed to traffic since a large crack was discovered in one of the beams.  The south half has been used for two way, east-west, traffic since that time. 

Marrs was westbound in his lane and Eldridge was eastbound in Marrs' lane when the accident occured at 8:30 p.m. about 240 feet east of A Street, police said.  Marrs and his parents, Mr. & Mrs. John U. Marrs, were returning home after attending the commencement exercises at Senior High. 

Eldridge was thrown from the moped and sustained head and chest injuries, and a leg fracture.  His condition was stabilized at Trinity Regional Hospital and he was being transferred to Iowa Methodist Hospital in Des Moines when he died.  A hospital spokesman said his condition worsened as the ambulance neared Boxholm and emergency life-saving measures were administered until the ambulance could reach the Boone hospital where he died in the emergency room just after midnight. 

No one in the van was injured.  Services for Eldridge will be at 1:30 p.m. Friday, at Trinity United Methodist Church with the Rev. John L. Riebhoff, pastor, officiating.  Burial will be in Memorial Park Cemetery.  Friends may call at Bruce Funeral Home after 2:00 p.m. Thursday. 

Surviving are his parents, Mr. & Mrs. Kenneth Eldridge, 119 Ave. C., Fort Dodge; sister Kathleen and brother Kent, both at home, and grandparents, Mr. & Mrs. Eugene Eldridge, Fort Dodge. 

Kevin E. Eldridge was born in Fort Dodge and attended Riverside Elementary School, South Junior High School and Fort Dodge Senior High.  He was employed at the Starlite Village Restaurant. 

He was interested in chess and was a member of the Fort Dodge Chess Club. 



 
go to bottom 
  Post Comment

02/05/10 08:55 PM #1    

Raelene Dobmeier (Amandus)

I remember Kevin as being very challenged, but smart. He did a great job to overcome his illnes. He is gone now, but overcame so many of the obstacles he was faced with everyday. We were blessed to have you for the short time you here.

03/26/10 10:42 AM #2    

Rod Niemier

Wow, where do I start? How does one recall a life lived so long ago? I am not sure how to begin, but here goes…

I grew up with Kevin. I am proud to say that he and I were very close. I wished I could say I was able to know him longer. He was a good man. We had some real fun times together.

Kevin and I and my brother (Jason Niemier) were all cub scouts. We went through cub scouts together. In fact our families were so active in cub scouts that our mothers became den mothers. We participated in all the scouting events together. There was always the pine wood derby car races. Those were a blast. Those events were held at Riverside school. Our mothers also made it fun and exciting to be in cub scouts. We were so close during those days it was almost like we were brothers.

Kevin was a serious bibliophile. I’ve never known a geater bookworm before or since. I like to read to, but back then I didn’t enjoy reading as much as he did. You know when your a kid there are always bigger fish to fry. I have never thought about it though until now, but perhaps the reason I do like reading as much as I do now, is due to him. He had amassed such a huge library by the time he was in 6th grade, it made me envious. I think that’s all he ever wanted for birthday or Christmas was books. This made Kevin an awesome speller. If you didn’t own a dictionary, and Kevin happened to be in your vicinity, well he was defiantly the person to ask. I know now during the modern age of computers, having great spelling skills is passé. Hell even now as I am typing this I find myself using the spell check in Word. However if Kevin was writing this, I believe the spell checker would never get used.

While we were growing up, I remember during the winter months when we were bored and looking for things to do our clan took up an interest in games. Our clan consisted of Matt Walters, my brother, Kenny Darling, Billy Wilson and I. We played all the usual games such as Sorry, Life, Monopoly, Stratego and checkers. I think up to that point we played checkers a lot. Kevin enjoyed that game, but we were 8 or 9 years old at the time. We were getting bored again with all the traditional games and were starting seeking more sophistication in the choice of our games. That’s when we all decided it was time to turn it up a notch. One summer we all decided to start playing chess. Our fathers all new how to play the game, my dad was pretty good, and so was Kevin’s. Chess however is one of the games that admittedly take a few hours to learn, unfortunately a life time to master. I think it was when we were in 5th grade at Riverside elementary school that we formed our first chess club. Good times. We had a small group. There were only 5 of us and one teacher participated.

Kevin was not much of an athlete. I know he went out for wrestling when he was in grade school, but not sure that he continued that activity. He enjoyed watching basketball, and football. I would say of the two though he really enjoyed basketball the best. He was a true blue Hawkeye’s fan, back in the day when Lute Olson was the coach of the Hawkeye’s basketball team and Haden Fry was the coach of the football team. I was a Hawkeye fan as well, however not so much a fan of basket ball. Kevin was responsible for turning me into a basket ball fan. He couldn’t wait for basketball season to roll around. In fact I think he only liked football because as soon as football season was over, basketball would begin.

Shortly after Kevin graduated from high school, Kevin and his dad took up an interest in golf. Kevin really enjoyed the game. I remember the first time he and I went golfing at Sunkist Meadows. Up to that point, other than miniature golf, that was the first time I had ever played a real game of golf. It was a blast. We had so much fun that day. I believe that particular summer we went golfing at least a dozen or more times. Neither of us were very good, but we sure had fun.

I see someone has taken the time to research and post Kevin’s obituary. What the obituary does not say is the unfortunate events that transpired to bring about Kevin’s passing. Kevin and my brother and I were all sitting around the television watching a Hawkeye’s basketball game. We were having fun watching the game, but all of us had someplace to go that night. We had a close friend’s graduation party to attend. Kevin was running late as the basketball game had run into overtime. So he needed to scramble to get ready to go. He left our house and it was a rainy evening. His mode of transportation was a moped. At the time he had his own apartment near the downtown area. He had to travel across the Karl King Bridge to reach his destination. The Karl King was under construction due to repairs at the time. The two east bound lanes were two way traffic and the west bound lanes were closed. Well this was a recipe for disaster. Kevin unknowingly turned into oncoming traffic and did not keep right. He made the fatal mistake of thinking that both lanes were his to use. I am sure the rain contributed to his distraction as he did not own a helmet.

I am glad to have known Kevin. As I said at the beginning I just wished we had an opportunity to know each other for a lot longer period of time. It is somewhat comforting to know that the last moments he had on earth were shared by his closest friends.

Thanks Kevin for the memories and the good times.

Your friend,
Rod Niemier





go to top 
  Post Comment