Authorities of several counties today sought 14 year old Wilberta Paul, daughter of a Lanark clergyman who reported the girl left home yesterday afternoon and did not return.
The Rev. I. (Ira) Clifford Paul, pastor of the Church of the Brethren, said Wilberta went to church with the family as usual and then left home about 4 p.m. saying she was goind "downtown".
Mrs. Paul said the girl, a high school sophomore, had little money with her, she added, she was sure here daughter had no boyfriend.
She is about 5 feet 2 inches tall and weighs about 112 pounds. She was wearing a brown and white checkered suit and black shoes and was hatless.
Dixon Evening Telegraph 06 October 1947
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Wilberta Paul, 14 year old ministers daughter who had been missing Sunday, was tricked out of hiding last night and Sheriff Henry Gruninger reported she told him " I just had the urge to run away".
Gruninger said her 16 year old boyfriend Duane Kloepping had been charged by Carroll county authorities with contributing to the delinquency of a minor after admitting, the sheriff said, that he helped Wilberta run away.
Wilberta was lured from hiding by Duane's father John Kloepping, who drove his sons red motor scooter through the streets of Lanark. Gruninger said the girl ran after the scooter and then after catching up with it cried in dismay "Where's Duane?"
Gruninger said the girl told him she hadn't eaten anything in two days and hidden in farm fields near Lanark spending one night in a quarry and staying for awhile in a cemetery. A delinquency charge was placed against her but she was released to her parents. Duane also was released pending a hearing for both youngsters in a Mt. Carroll justice court Oct. 15.
Wilberta was first reported missing by her father, the Rev. I. Clifford Paul, pastor of the Church of the Brethren here. The girls parents said they were not "angry" with her, but were glad to have her home again.
Dixon Evening Telegraph 8 October 1947
