Sunday's Obituary - Frank R. Vestal

Tonight's obituary post is a two-for-one deal.  I have 2 obituaries for my great-grandfather, Frank R. Vestal.

What I know about my great grandfather:

Frank R. Vestal was born on Feb. 1, 1904 in Longton, Elk, Kansas.  He married my great-grandmother, Ruby Irene VanRoyen on August 3, 1923.  Together they had 3 children, but only 2 survived.  One of their sons only lived 5 days. Ruby died in May 1929.  He remarried to Eleanor Marie Baker on Feb. 2, 1931 also in Longton, Kansas.  They had 4 children, however one died at birth.  According to Census records, he lived in Elk County, Kansas all but the last 10 years or so of his life before dying on January 23, 1972 in Dodge City, Ford, Kansas, and a brief residence in Chautauqua County, Kansas between 1920 and 1930.  Below are two obituaries I have for him.

Transcription for the above obituary:

FRANK R. VESTAL

DODGE CITY, Kan - Services for Frank R. Vestal, 67, employe of Ford County Highway Department, will be at 2 p.m. Tuesday in Hulpiett-Swaim Funeral Home. Burial will be at 1:30 p.m. Wednesday in Longton (Kan.) Cemetery. He died Sunday. 

Born at Longton, he came to Dodge City about 10 years ago.

Survivors include his widow, Marie; three sons, Francis E., Salina. Kan., Ralph Jr., Dodge City, and Gary R., Denver; two daughters, Mrs. Chet Harris, Amarillo, Tex., and Mrs. Wilbur Persinger, Longton, and two brothers, Nathan and Garrett, and a sister, Mrs. Frank Kimzey, all of Longton.

Transcription of the above obituary:

Frank R. Vestal

Frank R. Vestal, 66, of the Prairie Village trailer court, died Sunday evening in Trinity Hospital, after a very brief illness. He was born Feb. 1, 1904, at Longton, in Elk county, the son of Mr. and Mrs. Hilary Vestal.

Mr. Vestal grew up in Elk county and lived there, where he was a farmer and stockman, until about 10 years ago. He and Miss Marie Baker were married Feb. 2, 1931, at Longton.

They moved to Dodge City about 10 years ago. Here, Mr. Vestal was employed by the county highway department.

He was a member of th Dodge City First Christian Church and of the Masonic Lodge of Elk Falls.

Survivors include the widow; three sons, Francis of Salina, Ralph Jr. of Dodge City and Gary R. of Denver, Colo.; two daughters, Mrs. Chet (Lois) Harris of Amarillo, Tex., and Mrs. Wilbur (Marjorie) Persinger of Longton; two brothers, Nathan and Garrett, and a sister, Mrs. Frank Kimsey, all of Longton; 14 grandchildren and six great grandchildren.

The Funeral has been set for 2 p.m. Tuesday in the Hulpiet-Swaim Funeral Home chapel with Sheldon Thomas, minister, officiating. Burial with Masonic graveside rites, will be at 1:30 p.m. Wednesday in the Longton cemetery.

Small Brick Wall torn down

So I have been researching my great-great grandfather, Arie Blom Sr., and had gotten stuck on getting his death certificate.  I had sent away for it in the state of Illinois based on the following newspaper posting I found on Ancestry.com

So with the above article, I had decided to search in Cook County, Illinois for his death records since the article had mentioned Lansing as where his daughter and her husband were going to.  I also checked the date of the newspaper and looked up a calendar for 1943 and found according to the article his date of death was July 19, 1943.  

Well, I sent off for a copy of his death certificate from Cook County, and was surprised when I got a letter back stating no records found for the information I gave him.  Especially since I found an entry on interment.net for him and his wife buried at Homewood Memorial Gardens in Homewood, Cook, Illinois. 

I called Homewood Memorial Gardens and asked them to send me a copy of his burial record and the first one I sent was actually for his son, Arie Blom, Jr.   When I finally got the right record, I figured out why Cook County doesn't have a death certificate for him:

At the very bottom of the record, under remarks... "POD: Hammond, In.  No int order, too old".  So now, I am waiting for the State of Indiana to do their search and hopefully within a week or so I will have my great-great-grandfather's death certificate in my hands.

Sunday's Obituary: my great-grandfather John A. Blom

Source: The Hammond Times newspaper, Apr. 5, 1956 edition; Hammond, Indiana; Hammond Public Library repository.

Highland's John Blom Dies at 51

HIGHLAND -- John A. Blom, 51, former Highland town trustee, chairman of the town board, and clerk-treasurer, died of a heart attack at 2:40 p.m. Wednesday in St. Catherine Hospital, East Chicago.

Blom suffered the attack over the Easter weekend, and entered the hospital early Monday morning.  He was apparantly recovering when he suffered a relapse Wednesday.

The Highland civic leader was a member of the Board of Trustees from 1944 to 1947, during which time he served as chairman. In September of 1948, he was appointed clerk-treasurer to fill a vacancy caused by a sudden resignation, and served in that office until 1951.

He worked for 32 years at the American Steel Foundries, Hammond.  He had been personnel manager for the past 17 years.

BLOM was born in Chicago, but his family soon moved to Lansing.  He was a graduate of Hammond High School and Northwestern University, where he studied personnel management and accounting.

He lived with his wife at 2832 Garfield St., in Highland.

His civic work, other than public office, was confined to religion and education.  He served as a member of the Christian Grade School Board and the Illiana Christian High School Board for more than 20 years.  He was an elder in the Second Christian Reformed Church.

Services will be Saturday at 2 p.m. in the First Christian Reformed Church of Highland, the Rev. C. Oliver Buus officiating. Burial will be in Hope Cemetery.

FRIENDS may call at the Fagen Funeral Gardens, 2828 Highway Ave., Highland, after 7 o'clock tonight. Family requests that contributions be made to the Children's Retreat.

Blom is survived by his wife Jeanette; three sons [incorrect information], Louis [should be Lois, a daughter], of Norwalk, Calif., Wesley and Bruce, both of Highland; six grandchildren; two brothers, Peter of Highland and Arie of Lansing; four sisters, Mrs. Tadie Eenigenburg and Mrs. Agnes Porter, both of Lansing, Mrs. Petronella Jabaay of Byron Center, Mich., and Mrs. Trena Selles of Burdette, Canada.

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Sunday’s Obituary – if you have obituaries of family members and ancestors, consider posting them along with other information about that person as part of Sunday’s Obituary. This is an ongoing series developed by Leslie Ann at Ancestors Live Here.