Final Rites Saturday For Ithacan Killed in Fall from a tree
The Ithaca Journal, Mar 29 1951, P. 3, Col. 1.
"Memorial Services will be held at 11 a.m. Saturday in the First Presbyterian Church for Donald R. Bemont, 21, of 314 W. Spencer St. He died late Wednesday afternoon, Mar. 28, 1951, in a 40-foot fall from a tree.
A senior in the College of Agriculture where he was studying conservation and wild life, Bemont was employed in tree work during the Easter vacation. The accident occurred on the Forest Home-Varna Rd. just east of the Cornell horticultural gardens.
Coroner Ralph Low of Trumansburg said that death apparently came instantly, and was due to a broken neck. He gave a verdict of accidental death.
== One of 5-Man Crew ==
Sheriff Clifford Hall and Deputies Charles Hiney and Robert Jones investigated. The sheriff said he learned that Bemont was a member of a crew of five men working on trees in the area, with James D. Pond of the firm of Pond and Moyer Inc. in charge.
The sheriff was told by Pond that a limb from one tree had become lodged in another tree, and Bemont tried to loosen it. He fell, striking a log at the base of the tree. The loosened limb followed Bemont down and pinned his arm, the sheriff said.
A call was dispatched to the Sheriff's Department for inhalator equipment and Dr. Frank Sainburg, on emergency duty at the hospital, went to the scene, as did an ambulance.
== High School Graduate ==
Bemont was graduated in 1947 from Ithaca High School after playing end on the football team.
He enrolled at Alfred University where he was a member of the undefeated freshman football team. He transferred to Cornell where he was affiliated with Seal and Serpent fraternity and the Audubon Society.
Bemont also was a member of the Cornell Conservation Club, the American Ornithologist Union, Jordani, a zoological organization at Cornell, and the Wildlife Conservation Club.
The Cornellian is survived by his mother, Mrs. Isabel B. Bemont of Ithaca; a brother, Leslie E. Bemont of Binghamton;, his grandmother, Mrs. Alice I. Bull of Ithaca; three uncles, Earl W. Crampton, John G. Bull, and Fred Bull, all of St. Anne de Bellevue, Canada; an aunt, Mrs. Walter Anderson of New Britain, Conn., and a cousin, William Phreaner, Philadelphia, Pa."