Obituaries Can Be Time Capsules

I find obituaries to be time capsules, if those writing them put the person and personality of the dearly departed into the obituary.  Here is an example below and if you like it, I can publish her husband's next week.  It is equally interesting.

The Journal's County News Service, 

Melcher, Marion County, Iowa, March 26, 1930

Mrs. A. J. Tickle Aged 93 Dies at Dallas Home
Pioneer Woman was 93; Was Born in Covered Wagon 

Lucretia Helms was born on March 1, 1837, and departed this life at the family home, near Dallas, March 21, 1930, aged 93 years and 21 days.   In May 1861, she was united in marriage to Andrew Jackson Tickle. To this union, eleven children were born, two of whom preceded the mother to the great beyond. John died in May 1926, and Eddie, when 16 days old. 

The surviving children are George of Dallas, Mrs. Mattie Rood of Sedalia, Mo., Julius Tickle of Allerton, Mabel Tickle of Fairfield, Mrs. Barbara Green at home, Elmer of Dallas, Mrs. Raymond Stoddard of Guernsey, Wyo., Mrs. F. B. Wilson of Wheatland, Wyo., and Levi Tickle of Chariton.   Besides the husband and nine children who survive her, thirty-five grandchildren and seventeen great-grandchildren remain to mourn her loss. 

Born in a covered wagon at Davenport, Ia., as the parents were emigrating from Illinois to Iowa; growing to womanhood here in this vicinity of Dallas and Melcher, spending her married years in the same vicinity, living for twenty-three years beyond the allotted time for life, surely this woman spend a long useful life, and benediction to her children.   Her children say of her that she was a good wife and mother, that she lived a cheerful, prayerful, optimistic life. Not a member of any church, she believed in the things of the Kingdom. 

Serviced were conducted by R. V. Hughes at the Christian church on Sunday afternoon, March 23, at 2 p.m. Interment in Dallas Cemetery. 
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Note: Obituary shows marriage date as May 1861, but according to Marion County records Lucretia Helms and Andrew Jackson Tickle were married Nov 16, 1861.

1916 Killer Tornado Remembered

    My thoughts this spring, are on the 1916 Tornado that hit four states, including southeast Missouri. After they cared for the injured and recorded the dead, the headline read:

Tornado Killed 30 and Injured 75 in Missouri.

    My great grandmother, a great aunt, and five field hands were among those counted in the dead. My Grandfather, Henry Price, was reported as injured but he died nineteen days later from injuries received that sad, dark day.

     Related tornadoes reportedly killed 83 people in four states, but the number used to report Missouri's lost in that early report was only 14. The other three states experiencing the death and destruction from the storm were Arkansas, Mississippi, and Illinois. I wonder what the final total was after a week of recovery?

     The path of the tornado reportedly started near Jackson and traveled to Vicksburg, Mississippi.  It was next reported as capsizing the Mississippi River Packet Eleanore along the Arkansas banks of the Mississippi River. It then lifted up from the Mississippi River and followed the path of the river a few miles to the west in Arkansas. 

     The deadly tornado happened a century ago, June 5, 1916. One of the results from the storm was that my Mother always felt the loss of not knowing her father who died from injuries received the day the tornado swept the Prices' two-story home off its foundation and into a thousand pieces.  

     After the storm passed, Carrie Rettig Price first checked on her mother-in-law, Cummy Grandstaff Price (my Great-Grandmother).  She found her lying on the ground near the home's foundation.  Carrie soon realized Mrs. Price was dead.

    Carrie then hurried to find her husband, Henry Price. To her shock and horror, she found Henry alive but pinned to a tree by straw through his body. Carrie cried to others family members to help him. She then looked for her thirteen-month-old daughter, and could not find her. A group of surviving family members and neighbors began to search for the toddler.  The group heard a small child crying in a distant field of corn; the searchers followed the cry until they found her, nearly a quarter of a mile away from where she played just minutes earlier. She was scared but alive and well. That child was my mother, Marie Price-Cline.

     Carrie Price was eight months pregnant the day the tornado hit the Price farm.  Her husband was severely injured, and she was frightened and confused.  She looked in the direction of the small home she, her husband and young daughter shared nearby and it was still standing, seemingly unharmed.  She wondered why they fled the small house to go to the larger one.  They thought it would be safer.  They were very wrong.

     The patriarch of the family, James D. Price helped removed his son Henry from the tree.  He prepared his wife for the mortician.  Then he left the group to be by himself and with his thoughts.  He lost his wife, and a daughter-in-law that day, plus five field hands that also had to be prepared for the mortician.  When he returned, the farm was busy with neighbors and others from the area who came to help retrieve what they could for his family.  They also brought food and drink for the Price family, along with moral support.

     My grandmother, Carrie Price, told me the area looked like a war zone.  Carrie went into shock briefly but understood her new responsibilities would not allow for such a thing.  Her dreams were blown away along with the Price house and its contents.  On the 23rd of June, Carrie gave birth to her second daughter, Beulah Virginia Price.  Her husband saw her briefly before he sure come to infection caused by his injuries.  He died June 25, 1916.

    My Mother was always terrified of storms of any kind. Is it any wonder? The wind took more than her father and grandmother in 1916; it took her feeling of security for most of her life; it also made a widow of twenty-two-year-old Carrie Price.  The thought of the loss of her husband and the unknown future without him to help her raise two babies overwhelmed her for months.  Nothing would ever be the same again.  What would she do?

He Was An Inspiration To All

Charles Devall

Charles Devall, a church friend of mine, was recently interviewed for the Member Moments Oral History Project of Zachary United Methodist Church. Sadly, Charles lost his battle with brain cancer on September 7, 2015. He refused to let cancer define who he was or what he was cable of doing. He was blessed with a great Christian marriage of mutual love and respect. As a tribute to the admirable man Charles was, here is an excerpt from that oral history interview I conducted in April of this year.

"The values and beliefs I developed from attending Zachery United Methodist are honesty, faith, and the importance of following the teachings of the Bible. I learned the Gold Rule to treat others as I wanted them to treat me. I have lived my life by these values and beliefs.

I remember attending church in the wooden church. I enjoyed ringing the church bell by pulling on the rope. Robin Pope liked ringing the bell more than anyone. I also remember the church was not air-conditioned, and it got really hot inside during the summertime. Back then we had Sunday night church services too.

Charles smiled and said, “I have been blessed with a good life. I enjoyed working for Ethyl Corporation as a plant Electrical Supervisor between 1966 and 1985 when Ethyl shut down the Baton Rouge plant.” He continued to recall that he worked at other jobs after Ethyl but that was the job he enjoyed the most and still has friends and meaningful relationships from his years of working at Ethyl Corporation. He and Sherry meet former co-workers for dinner several times a year.

One of the more interesting things Charles told me was about his wedding day. “After he was dressed and about ready to go to the church, Chief of Police Pryor Browning came to the door and told me he had an important warrant to serve on me (His wife was our wedding planner.). He placed me into the rear seat of the police car and drove toward the church. As we were pulling onto Old Baker Road, a car went speeding by us. He told me to hold on he could not let someone go that fast without ticketing them. He caught the driver, gave him a ticket, and then we got to the church just in time for me to walk out into the sanctuary. Sherry was beautiful and we had a wonderful wedding. I don’t know how many grooms arrive at their wedding in a police car, but that is how I arrived at my wedding."

He had many stories that will now go untold.  He had a zest for life and loved to laugh and make others laugh. He was honest, dependable, pleasant to everyone and a man of great Christian character. Charles is gone from this earth but he is alive in our memories and I was blessed to have known him.