B. July 7, 1920
D. August 6, 1942, Chelan County, Washington
Buried: Leavenworth North Road Cemetery, Leavenworth, WA


Notes: Ellen's parents were: Henry William Prestidge (6/13/93-8/1/21) and Celestial Faith Noffsinger (1896-1977). He is buried in Riverview Cemetery, ND.

Special Note: On August 6, 1942 eight people died in a mudslide near Columbia River.

Eight Killed When Auto Is Hit by Flood: Only Driver of Machine Escapes Death in Tragedy in Mountain Canyon Nine Miles North of Wenatchee Wenatchee, Aug. 7 (AP)  A cloudburst and wall of water hurtling down a mountain canyon nine miles north of here last night trapped nine people in an automobile, killing eight of them as the machine rolled and was carried several hundred yards down the hillside Russell Kirk, 27, of San Francisco, the driver, escaped.  Thrown free, he crept through the mud and debris to the highway and was found by a passing motorist.  Early today, six of the bodies were found in the buried machine, which was jammed in the mud against the great Northern railway tracks along the Columbia river.  The Victims: the dead. Mrs. Russell Kirk, 24, San Francisco; Mrs. Lena McCann, San Francisco; Miss Lenn Firpo, 19, San Francisco; Wilbur Hale, 27, and his 22-year old wife, Ardenvoir; Frank McCann 27, and his wife, 21, Ardenvoir, and Ray McCann, 32, Leavenworth, a soldier. Mrs. Hale was an expectant mother.  The bodies of Wilbur Hale and Frank McCann were believed buried deep in the debris or carried into the Columbia river, Deputy Sheriff Floyd Williams said. Kirk, the driver, brought to a hospital here, said the party left Ardenvior to bring Ray McCann, a soldier, here to a train. Ardenvior is a small town 20 miles up the Entiat Valley. Car Pinned Against Rail.  It was raining hard, he said, and a stream of water across the highway pinned the car against a guard rail.  He was unable to pull it out.  "Suddenly we heard a tremendous noise and a wall of water hit us", he said. "We were rolled over four or five times and washed down the canyon." Thrown out, he crawled about a quarter of a mile up to the highway.  A motorist brought him to Wenatchee. The cloudburst occurred between 10:30 and 11 P.M.  After treatment for severe gravel cuts and abrasions on his head and a crushed leg, Kirk, gave more details of the cloudburst and of the car being rolled down the gully. "When we stopped, my wife had her arms around my neck and I tried to pull her out the car window, but she couldn't hold on," he (continued on page 8, column 7) said, "There as a sort of whirlpool of mud and water. I fought through it and heard some man in the car scream for help, but he was trapped." Rail Workers Find Auto.  A short time later, the Great Northern learned the tracks were blocked and sent a wrecking crew to the scene. They found a car cushion near the track and saw the automobile's California license number sticking up through the mud. A wrecker pulled the car out shortly after daybreak. Some of the victims lived at Ardenvior, and others were believed from California.  The cloudburst was in one of numerous gullies on the mountainside.