Daily Jefferson County Union
Fort Atkinson, Wisconsin
Friday, May 2, 1947
Photo: Have you seen her? This picture of missing Georgia Jean Weckler was taken Mar. 27 (1947) when she appeared in a style show in Fort Atkinson, Wis. Since then her permanent wave has straightened.
Here is the description of her when she disappeared: Age, 8; height, 4 feet 3 inches; weight, 70 pounds; hair, blond, eyes, brown; clothing, pink button sweater over a blue "T" shirt, blue jeans, blue flowered skirt, rubbers and a brown flowered scarf.
Headline: LeRoy Gore Posse Seeks Missing Girl HereEight-Year-Old Weckler Girl Missing From Route 1 Home
Fort Atkinson and surrounding area residents were alerted this afternoon to aid in the search of blond, brown-eyed, 8-year-old Georgia Jean Weckler, who has been missing since 3:20 pm Thursday. Little Georgia Jean, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. George C. Weckler, Route 1, was last seen at the intersection of Highway 12 and the half-a-mile-long Weckler farm drive by Mrs. Carl Floerke, a neighbor, and her young daughter, Mary. Mrs. Floerke dropped off Georgia Jean, a third-grade pupil at the Oakland Center school, there after school yesterday. No clues to her activity or whereabouts after that have as yet been found.
A five hour long search by a 200 member volunteer posse last night, and another search this morning failed to uncover any trace of the girl. An intensified search, aided by Erling Mickalson and Warren Shaw in an airplane, got underway early this afternoon. Jefferson County Sheriff George Perry and his deputies, who are directing the search, are investigating the possibility of foul play.
An 18-year-old Whitewater youth whose car was seen in the vicinity of the Weckler farm home yesterday, was questioned extensively last night and then released.
Other clues were being tracked down this afternoon. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) had not been called into the case by this noon. Center of the search last night and this morning was a 20-acre wooded tract which adjoins the Weckler driveway. A third-grade classmate, Beverly Ebersohl, reported that Georgia had mentioned that she intended to pick flowers in the woods for use in May baskets. Young Georgia, a first-year 4­H club member, reportedly "knew" the wood area and the possibility of her getting lost is, believed to be slim. However, the posse composed of Fort Atkinson and Cambridge Legionnaires, volunteer firemen from Cambridge, neighbors and friends of the well known Weckler family, and deputies was instructed to search the area thoroughly in the possibility that she had suffered some injury.
The girl is described as being about 51 inches tall, about 70 pounds in weight, brown eyed, and having shoulder length straight blond hair. When last seen she was wearing a pink, button sweater over a blue "T" shirt, a blue and red flowered skirt over blue jeans, rubbers, and a brown flowered head scarf.
Usually Georgia Jean, her sis­ter, Joan, 10, and her brother, LaVerne, 12 ride bicycles from their farm home situated about six miles west of Fort Atkinson to the Oakland Center school, about 1 ½ miles away. Because of yesterday morning's rain, however, the three were driven to the school by Mrs. Weckler. Georgia Jean was re­leased from school at 3 pm a half hour earlier than Joan and LaVerne completed their work and was driven as far as the Weckler drive by Mrs. Floerke, who had called for her daughter. According to Mrs. Floerke, Georgia Jean left the car and went directly to pick up the mail in the rural box at the entrance to the drive. She was last seen, with the bundle of mail tucked under her arm, walking down the curved gravel drive toward her home.
Mrs. Floerke told sheriff's officials that she saw no car or person in the immediate area when she left Georgia Jean off. Mrs. Weckler says she did not become alarmed when Georgia did not return home immediately after school. She reported that Mr. Weckler had taken the car to Jefferson and she had assumed that he had picked her up. When Weckler returned at 6 p. m. without Georgia, the search began.
Today, the sheriff's office is attempting to track down any "suspicious"' events that might have been connected with the girl's disappearance.Ernie Simdon, Fort Atkinson, informed officers that he drove to Oakland about 3:45 yesterday afternoon and that an "old" car, believed to be a Ford, pulled out in front of him from the vicinity of the Weckler drive and that it stayed ahead of him until he stopped in Oakland Center. He reported that he had not noticed the car before the Weckler drive area and believed that it might have started out from there. Deep tire tracks, possibly made by a car starting out fast, were observed in the entrance to the drive this morning.
Mrs. Twist, teacher at the near by Ives school, told police that she observed an "old" car come slow­ly by the school at about 3:50 p. m. yesterday and then pull up and stop in front of her car. The driver sat there looking back ford about 5 minutes, Mrs. Twist said, and then pulled out fast when she walked from the school toward her car.
Sheriff officials are considering that the car seen by Simdon and that by Mrs. Twist was the same vehicle. In the search for clues this afternoon, approximately 300 persons many of whom were rounded up in Fort through the aid of John Briggs' loud-speaking midget car continued to tramp through the rain swept woods and fields.
To help during the search emergency, several telephone operators from out-of-town have been called in to aid the local exchange.
Link:
http://home.comcast.net/~j.weckler/
