In a tragic event, Norma Kathleen Fawley, daughter of Lee Fawley, the Branch Manager of the Kroger on East Main Street, died unexpectedly while eating popcorn with her mother.

The Fawleys were driving around town running errands when Mr. Fawley parked in front of the smokehouse on South Detroit Street. He left his wife and daughter in the car while he walked to complete a few more errands. Norma was eating popcorn and started choking, and her mother was alerted by her gasping for breath. Workers in the smokehouse heard Mrs. Fawley’s cries for help and they rushed out to try to help.

All attempts to dislodge the popcorn by swinging Norma around by the heels, turning her upside-down, and forceful blows on the back were unsuccessful. A man in the crowd carried the child half a block to a nearby doctor’s office, but by then it was too late. As the doctor prepared to perform a surgery to remove the piece, Norma took a few more gasps of air, then tragically died.

Source: Child Chokes to Death from Bit of Popcorn, Dayton Herald, April 3, 1925, Page 1