Obituary: Danny John Waller - Class of 1966

Crash Splits Car;
2 Men Are Killed

The traffic deaths of two young Madison men, killed about 4 a.m. Wednesday when their Corvair split in half crashing at the South Beltline-Park St. interchange, were rules "accidental" by Coroner Clyde Chamberlain Jr.

Killed were: Danny John Waller, 18, the driver, son of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Waller, 124 N. Hancock St. Joseph Lynn Klassy, 19, the passenger who was married and had an infant son, and lived with his widowed mother, Mrs. Donald (Inez) Klassy, 717 Mayfair Ave.

COUNTY POLICE said the Corvair, apparently traveling at high speed, struck a solid metal guardrail at the westbound exit from the Beltline to S. Park St. and careened topside into a cement-embedded metal pole holding the big, green highway-route sign.

The pole split the car, with the two sections landing about 52 feet apart, Policeman John Detra reported.

Both yong men, who were not wearing seat belts, were thrown from the car. They were pronounced dead upon arrival at a Madison hospital from severe head and neck injuries.

Chamberlain sid it was not known where or to where the young men were travelling.

Their deaths raised the Madison and Dane County traffic toll this year to 34.

Both Waller and Lkassy had been students at Central-University High School.

FUNERAL SERVICES for both young men are pending at the Schroeder Funeral home, 3325 E. Washington Ave.

Waller's survivors, besides his parents, include three brothers and a sister at home, Richard, Terry, Michael, and Janet, and two other sisters, Mrs. Kenneth Russell, 1418 Loftsgordon Ave., and Mrs. Richard Edmark, Racine.

Klassy is survived by his wife, Lila, and a son, Jospeh, who lives in Madison; his mother; two brothers, Romaine, 5402 Temple Ct., and Stephen, with the navy submarine service; a sister, Mrs. Mark Moffat, Battle Creek, Mich., and his grandparents, Mr. and Mrs. Leslie Jones, Stoughton, and Henry Klassy, New Glarus.

Originally published in the Wisconsin State Journal on August 31, 1967. At this time, obituaries were news stories written by newspaper staff, not family. Submitted by Gerhard Ellerkamp (Class of 1966).