The Topeka Daily Capital Sunday November 4, 1951 C.R. Messick Killed in Crash. Topekan Involved in Collision in Indiana. Clarence R. MESSICK, 59, of 1117 Polk, was injured fatally Saturday in a head-on automobile crash near Richmond, Ind. He died a short time later in a Richmond hospital. Mr. Messick was prominent in church and musical activities here and had earned a national reputation with a musical bells act he had presented thruout the United States. He was on tour with his act at the time time of the fatal crash. Partner Injured. His partner in the act was injured, but the extent of his injuries was not known yet. Mr. Messick was on the way to Pennsylvania at the time of the accident. He was to play a series of engagements there next week. His bell ringing act, which was particularly popular with school and college audiences, first attracted national attention in 1940 when he appeared in New York City on the Hobby Lobby radio show. Lived Here Since 1905. He is survived by his wife, Tressa, of the home; two sons, Clarence R. Messick, Jr., a student at the University of Indiana, and Milton L. Messick, a student at the University of Kansas; a brother, C.Arthur Messick, Topeka; and several nieces and nephews. Mr. Messick was born January 1, 1892, in Nickerson, Kan. The Messick family moved to Topeka in 1905. Mr. Mrssick's father, Dr. Charles Messick, died here in 1949. In 1910 Clarence Messick organized and for a number of years directed a Sunday School orchestra in the First Christian Church here. He was a member of Orient Lodge No. 51, A.F. & A.M.