New Glarus man killed instantly after tree falls on car
Roch Kendrick's death on Oregon's Main Street potentially due to high winds
Janie Boschma and Nick Heynen — 7/10/2009 8:38 pm
OREGON — A UW-Madison researcher was killed when a large part of a tree fell on his car as he was driving through strong winds in the village of Oregon early Friday.
Roch D. Kendrick, 46, of New Glarus, was pronounced dead just after 9 a.m. by the Dane County Coroner’s Office after the accident about 45 minutes earlier in the 400 block of North Main Street.
Kendrick was a “vibrant person who was incredibly sharp, knowledgeable, well-spoken and incredibly bright,” said Cam Choy, an art professor at UW-La Crosse who knew Kendrick socially. In 2001, Kendrick used his experience working with molten iron to help Choy create an annual event for artists at UW-La Crosse.
Dale Schutte, a UW-Madison program administrator who worked with Kendrick for about 16 years, described Kendrick similarly, calling him “a bright, innovative, easy-to-work-with guy.”
Kendrick was a mechanical engineer who participated in research aimed at understanding Earth’s magnetic field. A 2005 Wisconsin State Journal article about the project described Kendrick as a lead engineer in designing a machine that would mimic the flow of the molten iron at the Earth’s core.
Oregon Lt. Craig Sherven said emergency crews towed Kendrick’s crushed 1996 Geo Prizm away from Main Street before removing his body from the vehicle. Kendrick sustained severe head and chest injuries, according to Coroner John Stanley.
Sherven said strong winds could have caused the section of an oak tree to fall into the road, “but we don’t know for sure.”
National Weather Service observers reported winds gusted up to 38 mph at the Dane County Regional Airport near the time the tree section fell, as a “wake low” — a low-pressure area trailing a high-pressure area — passed through behind the morning rain storm. The weather service recorded no cloud-to-ground lightning strikes in the Oregon area between 7 a.m. and 9 a.m. Friday.
Sarah Johnson, who lives in a house on the lot where the oak tree stood, said she was watching the storm with her two children, ages 2 and 5, on the front porch when they heard the tree crack loudly in the wind.
A Jeep driving south in front of the house barely escaped a large section of tree as it broke away but it crushed Kendrick’s sedan as he drove north, Johnson said.
James Harrington, who lives across the street from Johnson, said he was in his backyard when he heard “this loud crack ... and a steady car horn,” then ran to the front of his house. Emergency crews arrived shortly after, he said.
“We’re just absolutely heartbroken for the family,” Johnson said, “Our prayers are with (them).”
Sherven said the tree was about 45 feet tall and 6 feet around. Johnson estimated it was more than 100 years old and said she was surprised to see how rotted it was on the inside because it had always seemed healthy, leafing fully each spring.
Crews cut down the remaining sections of the tree Friday afternoon.
Oregon village ordinances require residents to trim trees on their private property to prevent them from blocking roads, but do not require any further tree maintenance by residents.
Dane County Extension director Lee Cunningham said he couldn’t think of a disease or infestation that would cause an oak to rot from the inside out.
The more likely culprit, he said, would be a combination of factors such as age, a lack of ground moisture due to pavement above the roots, or previous damage to a limb that could allow rainwater to seep into the tree’s core over time and rot it from the inside.
July is also the time of year when deciduous trees’ limbs are heaviest with leaves, which can act “like a kite” in the wind and put pressure on a tree’s limbs and trunk, he said.
There was a similar fatality occurred on May 11, 2005, when a honey locust tree fell on the 5800 block of Monona Drive, crashing onto the car of Visar Morina, 29, who died of injuries sustained in the incident six days later.
— State Journal reporter Chris Rickert contributed to this article.
Roch Kendrick's death on Oregon's Main Street potentially due to high winds
Janie Boschma and Nick Heynen — 7/10/2009 8:38 pm
OREGON — A UW-Madison researcher was killed when a large part of a tree fell on his car as he was driving through strong winds in the village of Oregon early Friday.
Roch D. Kendrick, 46, of New Glarus, was pronounced dead just after 9 a.m. by the Dane County Coroner’s Office after the accident about 45 minutes earlier in the 400 block of North Main Street.
Kendrick was a “vibrant person who was incredibly sharp, knowledgeable, well-spoken and incredibly bright,” said Cam Choy, an art professor at UW-La Crosse who knew Kendrick socially. In 2001, Kendrick used his experience working with molten iron to help Choy create an annual event for artists at UW-La Crosse.
Dale Schutte, a UW-Madison program administrator who worked with Kendrick for about 16 years, described Kendrick similarly, calling him “a bright, innovative, easy-to-work-with guy.”
Kendrick was a mechanical engineer who participated in research aimed at understanding Earth’s magnetic field. A 2005 Wisconsin State Journal article about the project described Kendrick as a lead engineer in designing a machine that would mimic the flow of the molten iron at the Earth’s core.
Oregon Lt. Craig Sherven said emergency crews towed Kendrick’s crushed 1996 Geo Prizm away from Main Street before removing his body from the vehicle. Kendrick sustained severe head and chest injuries, according to Coroner John Stanley.
Sherven said strong winds could have caused the section of an oak tree to fall into the road, “but we don’t know for sure.”
National Weather Service observers reported winds gusted up to 38 mph at the Dane County Regional Airport near the time the tree section fell, as a “wake low” — a low-pressure area trailing a high-pressure area — passed through behind the morning rain storm. The weather service recorded no cloud-to-ground lightning strikes in the Oregon area between 7 a.m. and 9 a.m. Friday.
Sarah Johnson, who lives in a house on the lot where the oak tree stood, said she was watching the storm with her two children, ages 2 and 5, on the front porch when they heard the tree crack loudly in the wind.
A Jeep driving south in front of the house barely escaped a large section of tree as it broke away but it crushed Kendrick’s sedan as he drove north, Johnson said.
James Harrington, who lives across the street from Johnson, said he was in his backyard when he heard “this loud crack ... and a steady car horn,” then ran to the front of his house. Emergency crews arrived shortly after, he said.
“We’re just absolutely heartbroken for the family,” Johnson said, “Our prayers are with (them).”
Sherven said the tree was about 45 feet tall and 6 feet around. Johnson estimated it was more than 100 years old and said she was surprised to see how rotted it was on the inside because it had always seemed healthy, leafing fully each spring.
Crews cut down the remaining sections of the tree Friday afternoon.
Oregon village ordinances require residents to trim trees on their private property to prevent them from blocking roads, but do not require any further tree maintenance by residents.
Dane County Extension director Lee Cunningham said he couldn’t think of a disease or infestation that would cause an oak to rot from the inside out.
The more likely culprit, he said, would be a combination of factors such as age, a lack of ground moisture due to pavement above the roots, or previous damage to a limb that could allow rainwater to seep into the tree’s core over time and rot it from the inside.
July is also the time of year when deciduous trees’ limbs are heaviest with leaves, which can act “like a kite” in the wind and put pressure on a tree’s limbs and trunk, he said.
There was a similar fatality occurred on May 11, 2005, when a honey locust tree fell on the 5800 block of Monona Drive, crashing onto the car of Visar Morina, 29, who died of injuries sustained in the incident six days later.
— State Journal reporter Chris Rickert contributed to this article.
Last edited:
