Person Page - 7034

     David Andrew Mathena was born circa 1961 at Baltimore, Maryland.² He died on April 18, 1976 at Lancaster, Lancaster Co., Pennsylvania.² He A 15-year-old Eden Manor youth was killed on a borrowed motorcycle, when he crashed the vehicle against a tree on city water works property in the Conestoga Pines area, adjacent to Eden Manor yesterday about 2:30 p.m. Dead is David A. Mathena, 15, of 1557 Princess Anne Drive. City police reported that the victim met a 17-year-old friend, who had been driving a motorcycle on water works premises. Mathena apparently induced his friend to let him take a turn on the cycle. About 15 minutes later, when David failed to return, the cycle owner and others at the scene began a search. The victim's body was found near the cycle, which had crashed into a tree. He was pronounced dead at Lancaster Osteopathic Hospital at 2:40 p.m. and an autopsy was ordered. He was not wearing a helmet, police report. A native of Baltimore, Md., David was a son of Ernest L. and Thelma Hewitt Mathena. The family has resided in Lancaster since 1971. A tennis player, he was a ninth grade student at Conestoga Valley High School and was a member of St. Thomas Episcopal Church. Surviving are his parents; a brother, Larry R; sisters: Mary S., Patricia E., and Julia A., all at home; grandparents, Mr. and Mrs. Robert E. Mathena, Princeton, W.Va., and Ellis S. Hewitt, Portsmouth, Ohio. on April 19, 1976.²