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- Drown Turns Date Into Tragedy
17-Year-Old From Kaukauna Dies After Car Overturns in Canal
Kaukauna-- A date to buy a prom dress turned into tragedy for a 17-year-old Kaukauna High School girl who drowned when the car she was in backed down an embankment and overturned in the four-foot deep Thilmany Pulp and Paper Co. canal near Thilmany Road Friday night.
Dead is Miss Joyce Ann Schwalenberg, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Ray Schwalenberg, 1701 Main Ave. She had been parked in the mill parking lot with Richard J. VanderLoop 18, 1602 N. Lawe St. about 11:15 p.m. when the car slid down the embankment and into the water.
Vander Loop escaped by crawling through a broken windo on the passenger side where he was sitting, authoritits said. He tried several times to pull Miss Schwalenberg from the half-submerged car but was not successful, authorities were told. He is being treated for shock.
Outagamie County Coroner Bernard H. Kemps and Kaukauna police said the pair had "double-dated" with another young couple early in the evevning to look at prom dresses in Appleton stores.
After the couples returned to Kaukauna, VanderLoop and Miss Schwalenberg went in VanderLoop's car to the mill parking lot, authorities said.
There Miss Schwalenberg apparently got into the drivers seat and VanderLoop moved to the passenger side, according to authorities. VanderLoop told authorities he turned on the engine and the car started rolling backard to the canal.
VanderLoop told the girl to put on the brake, but instead Miss Schwalenberg put her foot on the accelerator, he told authorities.
The car toppled over the 10 foot embankment and landed on its roof, trapping Miss Schwalenberg inside.
VanderLoop, escaping through the broken windows, aid he climbed out of the car and called for help, but no one responded. He said he climbed back into the water and said he could hear Miss Schwalenberg inside the car, but he could not get inside again. He said he had hold of her momentarily. VanderLoop said he got out of the water and ran into the nearby mill for help.
The Kaukauna Fire Department was called to give artificial respiration after the car with Miss Schwalenberg was pulled from the canal by a wrecker. She had been in the water an estimated 30 minutes.
Authorities said the car doors had jammed when the car overturned.
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1948 - 1965 (17 years)
