Chilton - A Chilton sailor, home on a weekend pass, took his own life Saturday by shooting himself with a 16-gauge shotgun.

Calumet County Coroner LeRoy Hughes said that Seaman Rodney P. Demler, 23, a construction builder, was found dead by his mother, Mrs. James Demler, in a bedroom of their home at 515 Memorial Dr.

The young serviceman, a veteran of Vietnam, had arrived home Friday evening on a weekend pass from Great Lakes Naval Training Station where he had been hospitalized.

He joined the Navy Dec. 18, 1963, and was in Vietnam for nine months, returning to the States in October.

Coroner Hughes said he was told the young man's enlistment would have been completed in another year, but that he was to be given a medical discharge.

Rodney Demler was born here Feb. 1, 1943, the son of the late Dr. James Demler and Anastasia Rolf Demler. He attended St. Mary's Catholic grade school and was graduated from Chilton High School.

Surviving are his mother; two brothers, James Demler, Aberdeen Proving Grounds, Maryland, and Richard, Stockbridge; and four sisters, Mrs. Jack Bostwick, Glendora, Calif., Mrs. Emil Custer, Stockbridge, Mrs. James Livernois, Jackson, Mich. and Mrs. Simon Schoenung, Chilton.

Funeral services will be held Tuesday at 9:30 at the Pfeffer Funeral Home and at 10 o'clock at St. Mary's Church with the Rev. Henry Schmitt, pastor, the celebrant of the requiem Mass. Burial will be in the church cemetery.

An honor guard from the Naval Reserve Training Center, Sheboygan, will conduct military rites at graveside.

Friends may call at the funeral home until the hour of services. The casket will be closed.

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