8:17 p.m.: Former Richmond Mayor Klute dies at 76

May 21, 2008 08:17 pm

— RICHMOND, Ind. (AP) — Former Richmond Mayor Byron Klute, who helped oversee the rebuilding effort after a 1968 natural gas explosion destroyed much of the city’s downtown, has died. He was 76.
Klute died Wednesday at his home from cancer, said Matt Stegall of Stegall-Berheide-Orr Funeral Home in Richmond.
Klute, a Democrat, was a history and government teacher at Richmond High School when he was elected mayor in 1967, taking office just months before the April 6, 1968, explosion that killed 41 people and injured more than 100 others.
He was re-elected as mayor in 1971, then resigned in 1975 to become Indiana office coordinator for then-Sen. Birch Bayh.
Klute later became executive vice president of the Richmond Area Chamber of Commerce and also worked as a property manager and an insurance agent. He served as an Air Force officer during 1954-59 and continued in the Air Force Reserves until 1969.
Survivors include his wife, Elsie Klute, his brother, four children, numerous grandchildren and great-grandchildren and his former wife, Beverly Klute.
Calling will be 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. Friday at Stegall-Berheide-Orr Funeral Home. Funeral services will be 11 a.m. Saturday at St. Paul’s Lutheran Church in Richmond.