Winfield Scott Myers Jr.
WINFIELD SCOTT MYERS JR. was born in Aura, New Jersey on February 14, 1926 to Winfield S. Myers and his wife, the former Sarah Smothers. The family, which included an older brother, Joseph, and two older sisters, was living in Woodbury when the 1930 Census was taken. They moved to Camden not long afterwards. The 1940 Census shows the family living in an apartment at 115 North 3rd Street. By this time the only child at home was Winfield Jr. The Myers had moved to 317 Federal Street by the summer of 1942.
Winfield Scott Myers Jr. served in the United States Navy during and after World War II. He returned to Camden when his service ended. His mother passed in 1946.
Winfield Scott Myers Jr. was living at 233 Erie Street in 1950. He took the civil service tests for the Camden Police department and for the Camden Fire Department in 1950. Appointed to the Fire Department, he began service on January 1, 1951 and served for over 25 years, much of that time with Engine Company 6. He was married to Elizabeth L. Holland. They lived at 347 Morse Street by 1956 and into the 1960s. Winfield Myers Sr. was residing with them at that address at the time of his passing in 1960.
Winfield Scott Myers Jr. was last a resident of Wildwood, New Jersey. He passed away on October 20, 2007.
Camden Boy Drowns Off Pyne Poynt
Camden Courier-Post —
DRAGGING OPERATIONS go on as Gary Auxer, 10, of 517 N. 9th st., directs Rescue Squad 1’s boat to the spot in Delaware River where he last saw Eugene Thornton, 9, of 539 Birch st. At the oars is Winfield Myers and handling the grappling hooks is John Kolessar, both of Engine Company 6.
Camden Boy Drowns Off Pyne Poynt
Mystery shrouds the drowning Thursday of Eugene Thornton, 9, of 539 Birch st.
Shortly before 6 p.m., Eugene fell or was pushed into the Delaware River, according to eyewitness accounts, as he and an unidentified companion were playing on the pilings between N. 7th and N. 8th sts.
Det. Nicholas Pavlak of the juvenile bureau said police are looking for a companion who was with the drowned boy.
Boys Push Each Other
Pavlak said one account he received from eyewitnesses is that three boys were “horsing around” and pushing each other on the brink of the pilings. He said the water at this point is between 4 and 6 feet deep.
Pavlak said one boy, according to eyewitnesses, pushed Thornton and he fell into the water. He said it was “horseplay which resulted in tragedy.”
Pavlak said police will continue their efforts today to locate the boy who did the pushing.
Grappling hooks operated by the boat team of James Smith of Rescue Squad 1 and John Kolessar of Engine Company 6 hauled Eugene’s lifeless form to the surface at 7:20 p.m.
Men from both units, under the direction of Captain Albert Weller, had been dragging the river between Pyne Poynt and Petty’s Island for more than an hour before the body was recovered.
Identified By Mother
Young Thornton was pronounced dead on arrival at Cooper Hospital shortly after 7:30 p.m. by Dr. Gerald E. Vanston.
The victim’s identity remained undetermined until about 9 o’clock, when Thornton’s mother, Emma, accompanied by her 10-year-old son, Albert, tearfully identified her son’s body at the hospital.
Mrs. Thornton told Pavlak that Eugene, Albert and her eight-year-old daughter, Diane had gone to the playgrounds around Pyne Poynt Junior High School at about 5 o’clock.
Albert told the detective that he and his sister had remained on the swings, while Eugene and another boy had gone off to play at the river’s edge.
Worker Reports Incident
Shortly before 6 p.m., William Passwater of 3225 Mount Ephraim ave., a WCAM employe, reported the drowning, according to Ptl. Peter Yecco and James Anderson.
Passwater told police that a Negro boy had run screaming to the radio station’s Pyne Poynt transmitter station, yelling that someone was drowning.
Gary Auxer, 10, of 517 N. 9th st., told Yecco and Anderson that he and some friends had witnessed the incident.
Gary said he had gone to water’s edge to warn Eugene and his friend. When he reached the scene, Auxer said, he heard Eugene’s friend, a Negro boy about 12, challenging Eugene to go in the water.
“It ain’t deep. It’s low tide.” [sic] the older boy said, according to Gary.
Then, when it seemed Eugene was not going to jump in the river, the older boy pushed him in, Gary said.
Youth Frightened
After the older boy reached for Eugene in the water and failed, he became frightened and ran off, Auxer told police.
Gary, a fifth-grader at Sewell School, said he tried to grab Eugene several times unsuccessfully. A friend of Auxer’s, John Barry Kelley, 9. [sic] of 642 Erie st., a third grader at Holy Name School, said he grabbed Eugene’s hand but the drowning boy let go.
Some 200 spectators lined the Delaware’s banks to watch the dragging operations.
Besides his mother; his brother, Albert, and sister, Diane, Eugene, a student at Cooper School, is survived by his father, Albert, a Pennsylvania Railroad employe; two brothers, Jacob, 5, and Carl, 2; and two sisters, Geraldine, 5, and Cynthia, 1.
2 Boys Rescued From River Rafts
Camden Courier-Post —
Some 300 parents and children stood on the bank of the Delaware River in Pyne Poynt yesterday and watched as members of the Camden Fire Department and Philadelphia Harbor Patrol rescued two Camden boys adrift in the river on rafts.
The boys, identified as Edward Ruiz, 13, of 710 Bailey Street, and Gigi Cooper, 11, of 553 Bailey Street, were put ashore from the harbor patrol boat on the Camden side of the river and taken to Cooper Hospital, where they were treated for exposure.
John H. Dawson, 40, 1607 Park Boulevard, a Globe Security guard working at the Pyne Poynt Junior High School, said a boy on a bike road up to him and pleaded:
“Please help my brother, he’s in the river on a raft.”
Police identified the boy as 12-year-old Richard Ruiz.
Informs Mother
The younger Ruiz boy then rode to his home and told his mother of what had happened. The boy and his mother, Annie, 34, ran back to the river’s edge, according to police.
Richard Janice, 36, and Winfield Myers, 40, of Engine Company No. 6, rowed some 400 yards against the current in a 14-foot rowboat and picked up the Cooper boy from a four-by-six-foot wooden raft.
The harbor patrol boat rescued Ruiz, who was about 100 yards beyond Cooper on a six-by-six-foot raft made of two wooden doors. Ruiz and Cooper were taken back to shore by the harbor patrol boat.
Warning Due
The mothers of both boys were waiting at the river’s edge but were not reunited with their sons until after they were dismissed from the hospital.
Camden Public Safety Director Keith Kauffman said he will hold a press conference today and issue a warning that parents should keep their children from playing near the river.
Obituary
Camden Courier-Post —
MYERS, Winfield Scott, Jr. “Wynn”
Age 81, born February 14, 1926, died October 20, 2007. Of North Wildwood, NJ, former longtime resident of Camden, NJ.
In 1944, “Wynn” joined the US Navy serving on an LST in the Pacific theater; he was involved in actions including the liberation of the Philippines and the occupation of Japan. “Wynn” was a Camden City Fireman, stationed at Firehouse #6, worked as a guard at the Garden State Race Track, and later in life worked at the Stone Harbor Golf Course. He was a member of North Wildwood VFW Post 5941, the Villas Fishing Club, the Elks, and the Republican Club.
“Wynn” was predeceased by his loving wife, Elizabeth L. Myers and his son, Jack Moncrief. He is survived by his children, Edna (Edward) Johnson of West Deptford, NJ, Lynne Miller of Westville, NJ and Wynn (Kate) Myers of Haddonfield, NJ, his grandchildren, Nancy, Edward, Valerie, Dana, Paulette, Heather, Dawn, Dyan, Robert, Winfield, and Cassandra; and many great grandchildren. He will also be missed by his longtime companion, Louise Tappata of Wildwood Crest, NJ.
Funeral services will be held on Wednesday, October 24, 11 a.m. at The EVOY FUNERAL HOME, 3218 Bayshore Rd., N. Cape May, NJ, where friends may call from 10 a.m. Burial will be in Cape May County Veterans Cemetery.
In lieu of flowers donations may be made to North Wildwood VFW Post 5941.