Marsha Lynn Hungerford
Oct. 17, 1948-Nov. 17, 1960
Niles Daily Star (Niles, Berrien Co., MI), Friday, November 18, 1960, page 1, col. 8, microfilm Niles District Library
Former Niles Girl Shoots, Kills Self Accidentally
Record Session at Home Ends in Tragedy
Marsha L. Hungerford Dies at Dowagiac Soon After Accident.
A 12-YEAR OLD girl, a former Niles resident, died at 4:37 p.m. in Lee Memorial Hospital, Dowagiac, after accidentally shooting herself in the head with a revolver.
Cass County sheriff's deputies said Marsha Lynn Hungerford was at home on the southwest side of Indian Lake, with her sister, Judith, 13, and two other girls playing records.
Marsha stepped into the master bedroom, deputies said, and emerged with a .38 caliber revolver. She placed the gun against the right side of her head, not knowing it was loaded, and pulled the trigger, playmates said.
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FOLLOWING THE accident, one girl phoned sheriff's men from the home and the others rushed to a neighbor's to call for an ambulance which rushed Marsha to the hospital where she died 90 minutes later in the emergency room. The death was ruled accidental by William Kurdelmeyer of Dowagiac, Cass County coroner.
Marsha's mother, Mrs. Betty Laverty, was in Niles having her car serviced at the time of the accident. Niles State Police rushed her to the hospital at Dowagiac.
Marsha's step-father, Ralph Laverty, was hunting deer at Tahquamenon Falls in the Upper Peninsula. Niles State Police dispatched an emergency message to the Newberry post and they contacted Laverty. He returned to Niles today.
Marsha was born Oct. 17, 1948 in Benton Harbor and had attended the Franklin School at Indian Lake. The family resided in Niles until about a year ago.
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SURVIVORS BESIDES her mother, sister and step-father is a step-sister, Shirlee at home, her father, Lyle Hungerford of Benton Harbor, two grandmothers, Mrs. Lena Farr and Mrs. Daisy Hungerford, both of Benton Harbor.
Funeral services will be at 9 a.m. Monday at St. Mary's Catholic Church with the Rev. Father Cletus Rose officiating. Burial will be in Silverbrook Cemetery.
Friends may call at the Pifer Funeral Home after 7 p.m. today.