Kern County Obituaries

Ralph Vanderpool

Submitted by Don Stowell; 13 Feb 2008

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Source Unknown; 17 Mar 1955

Two Uranium Hunters Die In Plane Crash
Ralph Vanderpool, 32, and Dan Alksne were killed in an airplane crash Sunday, 
March 13, in the vicinity of Independence, Nev., in Eureka Valley.
Mr. Vanderpool, an instrumentation mechanic for North American, was transferred 
to the Rocket branch at Edwards AFB August 1954, from White Sands, N.M. He and 
his family had resided at 120 Blackfield Street in Mojave Gardens since that time.
The two men had been uranium prospecting for several months. On his particular 
trip, Mr. Vanderpool, the owner of the plane, and Mr. Alksne, the pilot, left on 
Saturday morning for Nevada and were to return Sunday.
Mr. Vanderpool, a native Californian, is survived by his wife, Marion and two 
children, Chris. 4�  years old and Craig 1�  years old. 
Soon after the news of the accident, Mrs. Vanderpool and the children went to 
Newport Beach, to stay with her sister. The bodies were taken to Bishop from the 
scene of the crash but Mr. Vanderpool's body was transferred to Roy Clinker 
Mortuary at Huntington Park. There will be grave side services at Inglewood Park 
March 17th at 1 :00 p.m.
Dan Alksne was a civil service employee at Edwards, living in Boron. His home was 
in Palo Alto. California.