Wisconsin Rapids Daily Tribune (Wisconsin Rapids, Wisconsin)

1934 August 13
R.H. Polzin Loses Life at Bathing Beach

R.H. Polzin, 52, owner of the Polzin Calendar & Novelty company of Milwaukee and a former resident of Nekoosa, lost his life while swimming in Lucas lake, near West Bend, Saturday afternoon. Death was at first attributed to drowning, but it was discovered upon examination of the body that there was no water in the lungs, Mr. Polzin’s false teeth having become lodged in his throat choking him to death.

Mr. Polzin dove into about seven feet of water from a spring board 20 feet from shore. He came up and sank. A woman called for help, and within five minutes his body was recovered by bathers. A West Bend rescue squad worked for 40 minutes in a futile effort to resuscitate him.

Funeral services will be held at 2 o’clock Tuesday afternoon at the Seerick funeral home in Milwaukee, with burial in a Milwaukee cemetery beside his wife, who preceded him in death 16 years ago.

Mr. Polzin, who was born February 16, 1882, in Winona, Minn., is survived by his father and stepmother, Mr. and Mrs. William Polzin of Nekoosa; two daughters, June and Fae of Milwaukee; seven brothers, William A. and Fred of Milwaukee, Leo of Moss Bank, Saskatchewan, Canada, Louis if Slinger, Ferdinand, Henry and Otto of Nekoosa, and three sisters, Mrs. Ida Kepstein, Newark, N.J., Mrs. Amanda Kasper and Mrs. Martin Fogel, both of Milwaukee.

Mr. Polzin resided with his parents in Nekoosa during his boyhood.