| Notes |
- From Hedges Reunion Book: Nell Gillam, her mother Myrtle (Hedges) Denger, and Flora Tillotson died in a car accident on their way home from California. [4]
- Four persons died in the Missouri crash that took the lives of three Iowa women.
The dead all relatives riding in one car:
Mrs. Neill Elizabeth Gillam, 57, Des Moines school teacher.
Her mother, Mrs. Myrtle Denger, 86, of Des Moines,
Mrs. Clara Mae Gillam, in her 60s, of Tipton, a sister-in-law of Mrs. Nell Gillam, and
Flora E. Tillotson, 62, of St. Joseph, Ill., niece of Mrs. Denger.
A car driven by Mrs. Nell Gillam, 1962 University of Iowa Mother of the Year, apparently went out of control on U.S. Highway 40 near Higginsville in western Missouri and swerved into the path of a car driven by Lee L. Lowder, Jr., of Allen, Kan. Lowder escaped injury, but his wife was hospitalized at Lexington, Mo, in critical condition.
Officer said the dead women were returning from a California vacation.
Iowa City Press-Citizen, Iowa City, Iowa. Monday, 29 July 1963.
[6]
- Mother, Daughter Rites
Services for Mrs. Myrtle Denger, 85, and her daughter, Mrs. Nell E. Gillam, 57, both of 920 Creston ave., who were killed in an auto accident Sunday near Higginsville, Mo., will be at 9 a.m. Thursday at Park Avenue Christian Church.
Burial for Mrs. Denger will be at 2:30 p.m. Thursday in the cemetery at Dows. Burial for Mrs. Gillam will be in Glendale Cemetery.
Also killed in the accident were Mrs. Gillam’s sister-in-law, Mrs. Clara Mae Gillam of Tipton, and Flora E. Tillotson, 62, of St. Joseph, Ill., a niece of Mrs. Denger. The four women were returning to their homes from a California vacation trip when the car driven by Mrs. Nell Gillam collided with another car.
D.M. Teacher
Mrs. Nell Gillam, a teacher at Dunlap School here, was born at Armour, S.D. She came to Des Moines from Tipton 27 years ago, and was a member of Park Avenue Christian Church and South Gate Order of Eastern Star, and was past president of Park Avenue School Parent-Teacher Association and of the American Legion Auxiliary at Tipton.
She is survived by a son, 2nd Lt. Lynn Gillam of Ft. Bragg, N.C.; two brothers, Charles P. Denger of Des Moines and Edward T. Denger of Ojai, Cal., a stepson, Robert E. Gillam, and a step-daughter, Mrs. Eloise Griffin, both of Des Moines, and four grandchildren.
Lived at Dows
Mrs. Denger, born in Illinois, lived in Dows before moving here six years ago. She was a member of Park Avenue Christian Church and was past worthy matron of the Eastern Star at Dows and past president at Dows of the Women’s Christian Temperance Union and the Missionary Society.
Surviving are her two sons, six grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren.
The bodies of Mrs. Denger and her daughter are at Arnold’s Highland Park Funeral Home.
Des Moines Tribune, Des Moines, Iowa. Tuesday, 30 July 1963.
[3, 6]
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1906 - 1963 (57 years)
[1, 2, 3] 
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