IVERSON, Ollie

The Wickenburg Sun, Wickenburg, AZ June 2 1944, p. 1 OLLIE IVERSON’S LAST WISH FULFILLED; HE WANTED TO DIE BACK IN HIS HOMELAND Ollie Iverson had his last wish. He wanted to die back in the state of his birth – Iowa. That wish was granted him. Friends in Wickenburg, where Mr. and Mrs. Iverson lived for nearly 10 years, received the sad news last week of Mr. Iverson’s death in Grinnell, Iowa, where he was born. Those same friends, in lamenting the death of a fine gentleman, a good citizen, a brave soldier and a friendly, thoughtful companion, bravery of Mrs. Iverson who underwent a tragic ordeal in driving her husband back to his homeland to die. Mrs. Iverson knew, when she left with Ollie from the Morristown region May13th, that he did not have long to live. And Ollie knew it, too. But she started out, after arranging the back of the car as a bed so that he would be as comfortable as possible. The first night, at Winslow, she sought in vain for a hospital where she might put him but finally rented a cabin and carried her ailing husband to it. It was life that all the long trip. At one town, she thought he was dying and stopped the car directly in front of a doctor’s office, rushing out and summoned the doctor. He administered an opiate and told her Mr. Iverson had only a few days to live. But she went on and Ollie, determined to reach his old home, held grimly to a think thread of life. They reached Grinnell on May 17th and he passed away May 19th. A veteran of the First World War, Mr. Iverson, accompanied by Mrs. Iverson, came to Wickenburg in 1934, hoping to find here a cure for the ailment which he had contracted in the service. But the disease had made too great an inroad, and recovery was denied him. The Iversons acquired many friends while they lived here. In 1940 he was named Commander of the local American Legion post, a tribute to the respect in which he held by fellow veterans of the war. For the past two years they had resided in the Morristown region although last summer both managed El Recreo swimming pool here. No details as to the funeral services or place of burial have been received here.