In Memoriam

Roy Bernt

Roy Bernt
Yale Class Book photo

A Yale Daily News article on Sep. 19, 1962, states:

"Roy B. Bernt, 1964, was killed August 25 in an automobile accident in Missouri. Bernt was a member of the Russian Club. He lived in Upper Montclair, N.J. and was a member of Timothy Dwight. He graduated from College High School."

The following newspaper article gives more details.

Crash in County Takes Two Lives

Springfield (Missouri) Leader-Press
August 22, 1962

A grinding crash snuffed out two more lives yesterday in Greene County as the traffic death toll rose to 22 for the year — nine more than at this time last year.

Dead as a result of the auto-truck crash are Roy Bernt, 20, Upper Montclair, NJ, and Viola Reed, 58, Beverly Hills, CA.

Troopers said Miss Reed was at the wheel of a 1962 Pontiac station wagon traveling west on U.S. 166 about 6½ miles west of Republic when the vehicle swerved over the center line of the highway about 2:50 p.m.

A 1961 Mack tractor-trailer unit, driven by Lewis Dean Lyons, 33, Waverly, IL, roared into the Pontiac, stopping its forward velocity and causing the rear end to skid around. The vehicle slammed into the side of the truck and was torn in half. Both Bernt and Miss Reed were hurled from the car.

Miss Reed was a maid employed by Mrs. Katherine Clark, who with her son, Warner B. Clark, 20, was in the process of moving from Manhasset, NY, to Beverly Hills. The Clarks were in a car traveling ahead of the station wagon.

Bernt, a close friend of young Clark, was a student at Yale University and was planning to visit the Clarks at their new home.

The driver of the truck, Lyons, escaped injury in the crash.