Robert J. Schaumburg, died on March 4, 1961. A 17 year old high school senior was killed and a 31 year old mechanic was seriously injured Saturday when a gas tank they were soldering exploded. Dead from a skull fracture is Robert J. Schaumburg, 604 North Chicago St., son of Robert W. Schaumburg of Watseka and Mrs. Clarice Dowell of Onarga. The youth died almost instantly after his body was flung against a masonry wall in the auto body repair shop, of the C&S automobile dealers, 219 East Walnut St. The force of the explosion reportedly threw the youth's body six feet above the ground level. His companion, Harold st. Peter, a senior mechanic who lives at 431 E. Ash St., is in fair condition at Iroquois Hospital for burns about the face and injuries to both legs. St. Peter was helping Schaumburg, a diversified occupations student, repair the gas tank at the time of the incident. They were working alone. Force of the explosion also blew out a plywood partition between the shop and the auto dealership and broke the plate glass windows in the front of the building. The shock was heard blocks away. Schaumburg was born on May 11, 1943 in Lincoln. When he was two months old, his family moved to Watseka and he lived here since. He attended schools in Donovan and Watseka. He was a member of the Calvary Lutheran Church. Surviving besides his parents are half-brothers, Gene Schaumburg, 9, Tommy Dowell, 11 and Terry Dowell, 9; half-sisters, Sylvia Schaumburg, 11, Elaine Schaumburg, 8 and Marcia Dowell, 7; his paternal grandmother, Mrs. Sina Schaumburg of Watseka, and maternal grandparents, Floria Thomas of Tompkinsville, KY and Mrs. Lola Bray of Romney, IN. Funeral services were held at 2 p.m. Tuesday in the Calvary Lutheran Church with the Rev. B.F. Prange, pastor, officiating. Burial was in Body Cemetery under direction of the Segur Funeral Home An inquest is pending according to Iroquois County Coroner Wayne Knapp.