A 21-year-old man drowned Friday night, July 4, 1975, when the boat he was in capsized on the Illinois River, at the conclusion of the River Front Park fireworks display in Havana.
Ritchie M. Lerch of 126 E. Main, Havana, was pronounced dead at 11:45 p.m. Friday by Mason County Coroner Richard Hurley.
Lerch and three other men were watching the fireworks in a small, wooden craft which was swamped with waves from about 100 other boats near the coal docks, according to Hurley.
Chris Benton, Mike Flynn and Jeff Brown were rescued uninjured, by other boaters. Orville Gosnell, state game warden, recovered Lerch’s body two hours after the accident.
Lerch was born in Canton on May 10, 1954, a son of Fred and Mary Howell Lerch.
Surviving are his parents of Havana; three brothers, Kevin, Perry and John, all of Havana; two sisters, Mrs. Karen Sievers of Cornell, and Miss Lisa, at home; one half-brother, Ronald of Largo, Fla.; and one half-sister, Twilla Douglas of Macon, Mo.
He was employed at Caterpillar Tractor Co.
Mr. Lerch was a nephew of Loren Howell of Astoria.
Funeral services were held at Hurley Funeral Home in Havana with Rev. Robert Florence officiating. Burial was in Laurel Hill Cemetery.
Current Obituaries in the Astoria South Fulton Argus