Funeral services for Robert Charles Hanscum, 23, were held July 2, 1968 in Cheyenne.
He was the victim of a single car rollover west of Cheyenne on Happy Jack Road on Sunday, June 30th.
The son of Mr. and Mrs. Charles W. Hanscum, he was born in Lander, June 6, 1945, and had lived in Cheyenne for 20 years, graduating from St. Mary’s High School.
Hanscum had attended the Naval Academy for two years before transferring to the University of Wyoming, where he attained his bachelor’s degree in June, 1967. He was attending the University’s law school at the time of the accident.
Hanscum had just been elected Student Body President at the University of Wyoming. He was a member of the Potter Law Club and Omicron Delta Kappa, leadership and honors society.
Surviving besides his parent were a sister and two brothers.
Requiem Mass for Hanscum was held at St. Mary’s Cathedral with burial at Olivet cemetery. The Schrader Funeral Home had charge of the arrangements.
Also killed in the accident was Mary M. Divver, 22, who lived in Cheyenne. Services for Divver were held in Glenrock, Wyoming, with burial also there.
Judy Johnson, 22, and Charles Connaghan, 22, both from Cheyenne, were injured in the accident where Hanscum and Divver died. Johnson was listed in critical condition at Memorial Hospital. Connaghan’s condition was not released. Both survived.
The highway patrol said its investigation showed Hanscum was driving the car, which went out of control about 14 miles west of Cheyenne at about 3 a.m. and turned over at least two times. Both deceased victims had been thrown from the vehicle which had been eastbound when it failed to negotiate a curve in the road.
It was unclear whether Miss Johnson was thrown from the car or crawled from the demolished vehicle. Afterward, she attempted to walk for help. At 5:10 a.m., a passer-by reported to authorities he’d seen a woman collapsed beside the road. Sheriff Conine determined she’d been lying there for two hours about two miles from the scene.
Friends may contribute to the Robert Charles Hanscum memorial scholarship fund established at the University of Wyoming.
(Charles Connaghan passed in 2003.)
