Individual Details

Riverside Daily Press, Riverside, California, Monday, March 26, 1945, Page 3: Fourth Victim of Weekend Crashes In County Dead. [Portions concerning the Clasons only transcribed.] Mrs. Audrey L. Clason, 39, died only a short time after reaching Corona hospital early yesterday. Her two children, Ethel, aged 6, and Virginia, aged 3, were killed in the crash at the corner of Adams street and Schleisman Road, according to Coroner, Ben F. White. Injured in the East Vale accident were Grover Baughman, 25, and his wife, Eileen, and their son, Thomas, about 10 months old, all of Westminster, said Officer Paul Decker of the California Highway Patrol. Orville Clason, husband and father of the 3 killed was working the swing shift at the Fontana steel mill at the time. Mrs. Baughman is a niece of the Clasons, and had brought her family to attend a party in honor of Clason's father, R. C. (Rufe) Clason. Also figuring in the accident was a car allegedly driven by Joe Modica, 22, of Rice Road, Riverside, who was alone and was reported uninjured. The crash happened only a short distance from the Clason home on Holmes avenue, Mira Loma. Baughman, said to have been the driver of the car in which the Clasons were killed, was not seriously hurt. He remained at the scene according to White, for some time but later joined his family at Corona Naval hospital. The bodies were taken to the Hoover and Bell mortuary in Corona, and an inquest is scheduled at the Corona city hall tomorrow at 11 a.m.

Cornoa Daily Independent, Corona, California, Tuesday, March 27, 1945, Front Page, Col. 6: Inquest Places No Responsibility in Crash Deaths. An open verdict placing no responsibility for the automobile accident that caused the deaths of a mother and two children was returned by a coroner's jury in the Corona city hall today. This jury considered the accident near Mira Loma in which Mrs. Audrey Lucille Clason and her daughters, Virginia Lee, 3, and Ethel Evelina, 6, lost their lives. Funeral services for the three will be held in the Hoover & Bell Chapel at 11 a.m. tomorrow.

Members of the jury were John Colladay, Leo Pauly, Ray Mahoney, Carl Barto, Karl Erickson, Frank Pinkerton and H. P. Brownfield, assembled by Constable C. J. Lincoln. Corner Ben F. White and Deputy Coroner Seymor L. Cash were here to conduct the inquest. Joseph Modica of 3982 Rice road, Riverside, driver of one of the cars, was unable to be here. He is suffering from injuries resulting from the accident and was unable to attend. Extent of his injuries will not be known until a report is made on the X-ray pictures that have been taken.

Riverside Daily Press, Riverside, California, Tuesday, March 27, 1945, Page 5: Triple Funeral Rites Arranged. Corona--Triple funeral services are to be held tomorrow at 11 a.m. in the Hoover and Bell chapel for Mrs. Audrey Lucille Clason and her two daughters, Ethel Evelina and Virginia Lee, who were killed in an automobile accident late Saturday evening in the Mira Loma district. Mrs. Clason was born April 22, 1905, in Hunter, Okla, Ethel Evelina was born August 17, 1938, in Corona and Virginia Lee was born September 4, 1941, in Corona. Orville O. Clason, Husband and father and Mrs. Clason's father Charles R. Burtchfield of Greenville, N. M., survive. Rev. O. L. Underwood, pastor of the Foursquare church, will officiate and interment will be made at Sunnyslope cemetery.

Birth	25 Apr 1905	Hunter, Garfield Co., Oklahoma
Marriage	1936	Clayton, Union Co., New Mexico - Orville Otis Clason
Death	24 Mar 1945	Norco, Riverside Co., California
Burial		Corona Sunnyslope Cemetery, Corona, Riverside Co., California

Spouse	Orville Otis Clason (1903 - 1963)
Child	Walter Everett Clason (1937 - 1937)
Child	Ethel Evelina Clason (1938 - 1945)
Child	Alma May Clason (1940 - 1940)
Child	Virginia Lee Clason (1941 - 1945)
Child	Diana E Clason (1943 - 1943)