ITEN, Frank J. 1873-1946

ITEN, SCHRIBNER, BURRELL, ZIEGLER

Posted By: Michael Kearney (email)
Date: 7/31/2002 at 20:36:34

The Clinton Herald Saturday December 7, 1946 p. 8 Frank J. Iten, Donor of Parks, Dead at 73; Service to be Monday Closing a career of decades of civic usefulness, business and Masonic activities and public and private philanthropies death came at 10:25 o'clock this morning to Frank J. Iten, 73, of 308 South Bluff boulevard. He died in Jane Lamb hospital, where he had been a patient the last two days, and as institution to the support of which he had been a consistent and liberal coutributor and in which in recent years had been a frequent patient in his efforts to recover his failing health. Funeral services will be held in the Scottish Rite Masonic temple at 2:30 p.m. Monday, with Rose Croix cervices conducted by Delphic chapter, Knights Rose Croix, of DeMolay consistory, A.A.S.R. Masons, in which he was an active worker and past officer. In the meantime, the body will repose in the Snell funeral home until 10:30 a.m., Monday, when it will be taken to the Scottish Rite temple. Burial will be in Springdale cemetery. He was a generous contributor in many fields of public welfare and was particularly interested in the younger generation. Among his benefactions, in some of which he was joined by his now also deceased brother, the late Louis C. Iten,and other members of his family, were properties and equipment for the schools, recreation areas, Jane Lamb hospital and Masonic bodies. With his brother, he was among the first private citizens in Clinton to privide playgrounds and facilities, the first being a recreational field int he Hawthorne school grounds in the Ringwood district. Passing years witnessed an ever enlarging record of similar beneficences. They include the Franklin school playground, a playground for the Washington Junior high and Jefferson grade school building, the Iten stadium on the Clinton High school athletic field, a practice athletic field comprising the block between Seventh and Eighth avenues, South, and South Ninth street and Argyle court, opposite the high school field, and many other contributions of a benevelont nature to the schools, hospitals, Masonic bodies and in many other fields in which he deemed his helpfulness would be of constructive value. His interests were centered in many fields but more particularly in youth, as represented by his contributions to recreational facilities and to the schools, in Jane Lamb hospital and in Masonic activities. As a benefactor to the hospital, he showed his interest in many ways, including frequent visites to the children's wards, and early in the history of the development of radio, he and Mrs. Iten equipped the rooms of patients with headsets to which programs were distributed from a central receiving unit. Born in Rock Island, Ill., the son of Mr. and Mrs. Louis Iten, Nov. 2, 1873, he was educated in the Davenport schools, completed his formal education in the grammar grades. His father was a native of Switzerland, and his mother , the former Theresa Ziegler of Bavaria, who came to America before the absorbtion of the latter country by the German empire. The family came to Clinton in 1892 and the father and three sons, Frank J., Louis C., and John, associated themselves in the baking business and established the Iten Biscuit Co. Prior to 1892, Mr. Iten had assisted his father in the baking business in Davenport. First established in Clinton as L. Iten & Sons, the firm later became the Iten Biscuit Co., after the father's death, and from 1906 to 1928 was operated under that name with plants also in Oklahoma City, Okla., Memphis, Tenn., and Omaha, Nebr. In 1928, the Iten Biscuit Co. merged with the National Biscuit Co. and thereafter Mr. Iten devoted his attention to his other business interests and benevolences. Married December 11, 1895, in Clinton to Miss Anna Walde, who survives, Mr. Iten reared a family of two sons, William Harry and Louis Franklin Iten. They and their families, including William H. Iten's four children and Louis F. Iten's three children, also survive, as does one sister, Mrs. D.F. Schribner, now of Los Angeles,Calif. Three brothers, Louis C. Iten, who died in August 1943, John J. Iten and William Iten and two sisters, Miss Anna Iten and Mrs. Lizzie Burrell, preceded him in death. Among the more outstanding of Mr. Iten's joys was an annual Christmas display on the lawn of his Bluff boulevard home, another evidence of his interest in children. Started in 1927, Mr. Iten continued the display annually until 1941, after which because of the war it was discontinued. The display gained nation-wide, even worldwide, interest because of its completeness, being comprised of Christmas lights with a background of fairy-story characters and figures depicting the birth and life of Christ. During World War I, Mr. Iten served as chairman of the Clinton county chapter of the American Red Cross. He also was a past director of the Clinton Chamber of Commerce, first president of the then Clinton area of Boy Scouts of America, a member and past president of the Clinton Country club and a member of the Trendway club of Beardstown,Ill., where he maintained a hunting lodge. It was in Masonry, however, that Mr. Iten showed his most avid social interest. He was a past master of Western Star lodge, 100, A.F. & A.M. of which he was worshipful master of Delphic chapter Knights Rose Croix, of DeMolay consistory, A.A.S.R., which he had served in many official capacities, a 33rd degree Scottish Rite Mason and an honorary member of the supreme council of inspectors general of the Scottish Rite for the Southern jurisdiction of the United States, a member of the York Rite Masonic bodies, including Keystone chapter, Royal Arch Masons, Delta council, Royal and Select Masters, and Holy Cross commandery, Knights Templar, also a life member of Kaaba temple, Nobles of the Mystic Shrine, and a permanent contributing member of the latter's children's hospital organization. He was a member of St. John's Episcopal church. His hobbies were largely hunting, fishing, golf and other outdoor activities.