Doris M. Moakler attempted to save Carol M. Sturm from being killed by a train, Manitowoc, Wisconsin, January 2, 1942. Carol, 15, and Doris, 15, schoolgirl, walked between the rails of the single track on a bridge that crossed the Manitowoc River. Ice covered the river; and the bridge, the ties of which were 12.5 feet above the ice, was covered with snow. A train was approaching on the track at a speed of 20 m.p.h. When the girls were 127 feet from the end of the bridge and 28 feet from a walkway on the bridge, they saw the locomotive, which was 600 feet from them. Carol’s foot then became caught between two ties; and she knelt, tried to free her foot, and asked Doris to help her. Doris, who had advanced six feet, stepped back to Carol, took hold of her leg, freed her foot, and quickly helped her to her feet. The locomotive then was 150 feet from them. At Doris’s suggestion they stepped to a point between the rail and a guard-rail that was 17 inches outside it, and Carol lay face down on the ties. Doris also lay face down just ahead of her. The pilot foot-board struck Doris and knocked her from the bridge. She fell onto the ice, broke through into water three feet deep, and was submerged briefly. She got partly onto the ice and became unconscious but was rescued. She sustained severe injuries and was disabled for 11 weeks. The locomotive struck and killed Carol. 39374-3272
39374 – 3272
39374-3272Obituary
Doris Mae Kolodzeske, 80, Superior, Wis., died on Oct. 3, 2007, in St. Mary’s Medical Center, Duluth, Minn.
She was born on May 9, 1927, in Manitowoc, Wis., to Edward and Lila Schweitzer Moakler. She lived in Superior for about 48 years.
Kolodzeske was a member of St. Francis Xavier Catholic Church and Catholic Daughters of the Americas Court 1190. She had been employed as secretary to the registrar for the University of Wisconsin-Superior for 25 years before retiring in 1989.
(Edited from the Manitowoc Herald Times Reporter, Oct. 6, 2007.)