Bettendorf Man, 35, Dies of Poliomyelitus

Scott County’s second death this year, due to Polio, occurred when Orval P. Scherer, 35, of mounted route, Bettendorf, Iowa, died Monday morning, September 21, 1953 in the Scott County Isolation Hospital. He had been ill since last Wednesday, when he was stricken with polio.

He was the father of Marie Scherer 9, who had been a polio patient at the Isolation Hospital and who had been taken to Mercy Hospital for further treatment.

Mr. Scherer was born in Olney, Illinois February 27, 1918, and attended schools there and in Carbondale, Illinois. He was the only child of Mr. and Mrs. Simon Scherer, well known Olney residents of the Mt. Gilead community. He married Viola Shields, June 6, 1939 in Perryville, Missouri.

The couple resided in Olney, later moving to Evansville, Indiana and came to Bettendorf two years ago. He was employed as an inspector at the Bendix Aviation Corp. He was a member of St. John’s Methodist Church.

Survivors include his widow; two daughters, Marie and Jean Ellen, both at home; and his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Simon Scherer, Olney.

Friends may call at the Runge Mortuary. The body will be taken to Olney for funeral services in the Summers-Wilson Mortuary. Burial will be in Haven Hill Cemetery, Olney.

The Rock Island Argus, Rock Island, IL – Monday, September 21, 1953 & The Olney Advocate (IL) – September 24, 1953