HASTINGS, Mich. (July 10, 2014)–A World War II veteran was killed in Hastings Thursday while attempting to cross the street on a golf cart.
It happened just before 9 a.m. Police said Richard Beduhn was on North Street driving his golf cart to the Hastings Country Club when he drove out into oncoming traffic on Broadway Avenue. Beduhn died at the scene.
Police said the driver who hit Beduhn had minor injuries.
FOX 17 spoke to Bob Stack who said he golfed with Beduhn for 40 years. He said he was at the country club waiting for Beduhn’s arrival the morning of the crash.
“We have this Thursday ‘Over the Hills’ gang we call it here,” Stack said. “For guys that are retired and over the hill.”
While Stack said Beduhn was an avid golfer he also said Beduhn had poor vision.
“We saw some flashing lights over on the entrance to the country club and we thought at the time it might be Dick Beduhn,” Stack said.
Within hours, it seemed as though the entire community heard about what happened.
Beduhn is known for his work at was once a popular bank in Hastings. He’s also a member of the American Legion where Leslie Carpenter works. For the past eight years, Carpenter said she waited on Beduhn and his fellow golfers who dined in at the Legion every Tuesday.
“We call them the ROMEO’s: Retired old men eating out,” Carpenter said. “There’s usually quite a group of them and they come in, have lunch and have a good time and then when they leave they go golfing.”
Carpenter said when her coworker first told her about the accident she didn’t initially remember which one was Beduhn.
“Then she told me what he ate…his small milk and apple pie,” Carpenter said. “I knew exactly who she was talking about.”
For Stack, over the course of his friendship with Beduhn, he said he learned the two had more in common than golf.
“I found out he was a member of the 8th Air Force,” Stack said. “I was a member of the 8th Air Force in World War II. ”
