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A young Enid man and a Watonga youth lost their lives Sunday in separate accidents in Blaine and Alfalfa Counties.
Dennis Leon Bliss, 22, 215 E. Princeton, was pronounced dead on arrival at a Cherokee funeral home shortly after the 6:30 PM one – vehicle accident 6 miles north of jet on State Highway 38 in Alfalfa County. Bliss, driver of a sports car, sustained a broken neck and his body was reportedly crushed when his car overturned twice as he tried to avoid hitting two vehicles at a county road intersection.
Fifteen – year – old Larry Dan Cruts of Watonga was killed about noon Sunday when he was run over by the back wheels of the self – propelled hay wagon he was driving. Cruts apparently hit a hole in a county road northwest of Watonga causing the vehicle to veer to the left. Tree limbs along the road knocked the young driver off and under the wagon, which ran over him. He received a broken neck and internal injuries.
According to the Highway Patrol, the Bliss vehicle was traveling south on 38 at a high rate of speed. Bliss came into a curve to the right at a county road intersection at applied his brakes to try to avoid hitting a vehicle stopped in the intersection and a second vehicle making a left turn off of SH 38 onto the county road. He apparently slid sideways between the two vehicles, flipped over in the air, throwing his passenger, Eldon Wayne Buller, 25, 210 N. Monroe, out of the car. The vehicle overturned twice before coming to rest on its wheels. Buller was slightly injured, but did not require hospitalization, according to OHP reports.
Bliss, son of Mr. and Mrs. Glenn Bliss of Enid, attended Enid Business College after graduating from Enid high in 1971. He was employed by the Enid Concrete Company and was a horse trainer. He and Sue Blesener of Enid were to be married in September.
Besides his parents, Bliss is survived by five brothers, Lloyd D. Eck, Edmond, Arlyn Gene Eck, Moore, Glenn Bliss Jr., Enid, Robert Ray Bliss, Lahoma, and Wilber Lee Bliss, Nashville, Tennessee; three sisters, Mrs. Marvin (Shirley) Cheynet, Wichita, Kansas, Mrs. Jerry (Sharon) Holsten, Enid, and Mrs. Arnitta Hess, Enid; four nieces and 12 nephews.
Bliss was preceded in death by his grandparents, Mr. and Mrs. Frank Bliss, Coldwater, Kansas, and Mr. and Mrs. Robert Wahl of Enid.
Funeral services will be held at 2 PM Thursday in the Ladusau – Evans Chapel with brother Willie Murphy of Guthrie officiating. Burial will follow in Memorial Park Cemetery.
Young Larry Cruts was pronounced dead on arrival at a Watonga hospital after his father reportedly drove him there from the accident site, 10 miles northwest of Watonga and 1/4 mile west of Highway 270.
Cruts is the son of Mr. and Mrs. Wilmer Cruts of Watonga. He has a twin brother named Don and a sister. An older brother, Bobby, preceded him in death.
Funeral services for Larry are to be held at 2 PM Tuesday in the Watonga grade school auditorium. He is to be buried in the I00F Cemetery in Watonga, with Harris funeral home of Watonga in charge.
The two fatalities are the 17th and 18th for this Oklahoma Highway Patrol district so far this year. Last year at this time, only nine fatalities had been reported. The total fatalities reported in this district in 1973 was 14, four less than the total to date.
The local deaths were among four reported on Oklahoma's highways Sunday, raising the 1974 traffic toll to 379. The count a year ago was 424.
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