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Cheryl Ann (Arians) Ebeling

Posted 2017-07-12 by Pat R
Lebanon Daily News (Lebanon, PA)
Friday, July 16, 1965, p. 2

Lost Under Hot Sun, Woman Dies Near Desert Home

Chandler, Ariz. (AP)--
Lost under a blazing sun, stumbling for water, young Cheryl Ebeling,
19, died almost within sight of her home.

Her body was found Thursday, 18 hours after she and her husband,
Richard, had abandoned their car stalled in sand. "I called back to my
wife, 'Come on--it's just a little ways now.'" Ebeling said. "When I
looked back, she wasn't there."

The couple, married last August, drove into the desert southeast of
Phoenix early Wednesday to hike and hunt for rocks. Their car bogged
down six miles from the community of Olberg.

Ebeling, 28, said they had given up trying to free the car by noon
and, under the 105-degree sun, started walking back toward Chandler
some 20 miles away.

"Sticks looked like rattlesnakes, and rattlesnakes looked like
sticks," Ebeling recalled.

After four miles, Ebeling said his wife was lagging 50 yards behind
him when he climbed a small hill and spotted Chandler-area homes below
and Phoenix in the distance.

"I called to tell her the news," he sobbed. "I walked on, thinking she
was following. But that's when I should have turned back."

Ebeling reached a telephone, and he and his mother returned to seek
Cheryl. During the night about 50 law enforcement officers joined the
search. The young woman's body was found beside a bush the next
morning. She was clutching a small shrub for shade.

A coroner's jury ruled she had died of dehydration caused by exposure
to the sun.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Arizona Republic (Phoenix, AZ)
Saturday, July 17, 1965, p. 63

Chandler--Funeral rites for Mrs. Cheryl Ann Ebeling, 19, will be
conducted by the Rev. Harvey Kimbler at 2:30 p.m. tomorrow in the
Chandler First Baptist Church.

Mrs. Ebeling was found dead Thursday, apparently of exposure southeast
of Chandler. Born in Wisconsin, she was graduated from Chandler High
School in 1964.

Her husband, Dirk Ebeling, 500 N. Hartford, survives.

Burial will be in Sun Prairie, Wis., Bueler Mortuary announced.

See Also: Find A Grave




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