Gettysburg
Times
Sam Cobean, Cartoonist and
Town Native, Killed in Crash
Samuel E. "Sam" Cobean, 38, Gettysburg native who became nationally
known as a cartoonist,died Monday evening at 6 o"clock in an automobile
crash four miles north of his home in Watkins Glen,N.Y.
The English sports car he was driving collided
with another machine on the West Seneca Lake highway and a companion,
Cameron Argetsinger, 30 former chairman of the Grand Prix Road Race,
was injured. The driver of the other car,John D. Viglione, 46,
Watkins Glen, was not hurt.
Police said the accident occurred when
Mr.Cobean, driving north, hit the other car as it made a left turn into
a farmhouse driveway. Argetsinger was taken to a nearby hospital
where his condition was said to be not serious.
A son of the late Dr. George C. Cobean, Former
Gettysburg dentist and Catherine Eichinger Cobean, Mr. Cobean was born
here. His father engaged in the practice of dentistry here with
offices in the Epley garage building and the present home of Dr. C. G.
Crist, which Dr. Cobean built. Later the Cobeans built the
present Edgar L. Deardorff home on Carlisle street and resided there
until they moved to Juniata, Pa., about 1920. Both Dr. and Mrs.
Cobean died there and are buried in Evergreen Cemetery.
Sam Cobean visited briefly with friends here
last March while en-route to and from Florida from Westport, Conn.,
where he, he wife and their adopted son spent the winter. Their
home had been at Watkins Glen for the last five years.
Mr. Cobean was well known for his drawings in
"The New Yorker" magazine and in other publications which he always
signed only with his last name. He had been a member of "The New
Yorker" staff since World War II.
He studied law at the University of Oklahoma,
where he became the editor of the college magazine. He became
interested in writing and drawing and abandoned the study of law for
them.
In 1937, he joined the staff of the Disney
Studios, where he worked on feature length animated cartoons, including
"Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs." He later worked on cartoon
shorts for the Universal and Columbia studios.
In World War II, he was in the Signal corps and was assigned to write
and draw cartoons for training manuals. He did one on Japanese
treachery that was widely distributed in the Pacific.
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from column one
In that period, he sold his first cartoon to
"The New Yorker' and later appeared in "The Saturday Evening Post,"
"Mademoiselle," "McCall's" magazine, "Harper's Bazaar," "Collier's"
"Esquire," and "The Reporter." A collection of his cartoons, "The
Naked Eye" was published in December in book form.
The only immediate survivors are his widow,
the former Anne McCool, of Norman, Okla., and their son, Samuel Scott
Cobean, aged about two years. A maternal grandmother, Mrs. Susan
Eichinger, Etters R. D., also survives. She marked her 90th
birthday last March and it was in connection with a visit with Mrs.
Eichinger for that occasion that the Cobeans were in Gettysburg last.
Funeral services will be held at the
Presbyterian Church in Watkins Glen Wednesday followed by services at 3
o'clock Thursday afternoon at the Bender funeral home here with the
Rev. Clyde R. Brown, Presbyterian pastor, officiating. Interment
in Evergreen cemetery.
Cobean's father, Dr. George Cobean, was a
former elder in the local Presbyterian church.
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Watkins Glen News
Funeral Services
Wednesday for
Sam Cobean, Internationally
Famed Cartoonist
Funeral services for Sam Cobean, 38, one of he nation's outstanding
cartoonists who was almost instantly killed early Monday evening in an
automobile accident on the Watkins Glen-Geneva highway, were held at
the Presbyterian Church in Watkins Glen Wednesday afternoon.
Cobean, a resident of Watkins Glen for the
past five years, and three other men were involved in the collision of
two automobiles shortly before 6 p.m. on Route 14, five miles north of
Watkins Glen.
Injured in the accident were Cameron H.
Argetsinger, Jr., 30, of Youngstown, Ohio, well known Grand Prix racing
enthusiast, with facial lacerations, brush burns of the face and
bruises; John D. Viglione, Watkins Glen businessman who suffered a left
leg injury and bruises; and Albert Deal, 18, Watkins Glen RD, who
sustained right shoulder bruises and other minor injuries.
Argetsinger, who was admitted to Shepard
Relief hospital following the accident, was not seriously injured and
was discharged from the hospital later this week. Viglione and
Deal were not hospitalized.
According to police, Cobean was driving north
on Route 14 with Argetsinger as his passenger, headed for the
Argetsinger summer home on the west shore of Seneca Lake. The
famed artist was driving his English-make Jaguar car.
Ahead of his, also proceeding north, was Mr.
Viglione with young Deal as passenger. When Viglione started to
make a left hand turn to the farm house of Albert Castor, Cobean was
unable to avoid the crash. Viglione stated that his automatic
turn signals were working and that his car rolled over several times
due to the impact of the crash.
Cobean, who suffered a crushed chest and
internal injuries, was pinned in the wreckage of his car.
Immediate cause of death was piercing of his heart by a crushed rib,
according to Dr. Francis Ward, Schuyler County coroner. An
inquest will be held next week.
Nearly 200 people from all walks of life
attended the rites Wednesday for the internationally known
cartoonist. The Rev. William Cartmel, pastor of the Glen
Presbyterian church who officiated at the services, voiced thanks to
God "for his (Cobean's ) joy in entertaining and uplifting
mankind. He was given a gift by Thy hand and he made the most of
it. No man can do more."
Final funeral services were held at
Gettysburg, Pa., on Thursday at 3 p.m. Burial will take place in
Gettysburg.
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