CHARLES F. SMITH

SMITHK

Posted By: Deb Barker (email)
Date: 12/30/2014 at 21:11:29

WILL HAVE AN AUTO FUNERAL
CHARLES F. SMITH, MACHINIST, WILL HAVE LAST REQUEST GRANTED. 40 CAR PROCESSION
Four Garages of City Will Place Autos in Funeral—Gray Car With Draperies Will Serve as Pall
—Died Yesterday. (From Saturday's Daily.)
In compliance with his request just before he went to the operating table in the last resort to save his life,
Charles F. Smith, aged thirty-seven years, chief machinist at the Ottumwa Auto Co., will have an automobile
funeral tomorrow afternoon. Forty automobiles from four garages of the city will be in the funeral procession.
Mr. Smith died at the Ottumwa hospital yesterday afternoon at 3:30 o'clock despite an operation for appendicitis
performed twelve days ago. He had been a resident of Ottumwa for thirty years and was one of the best known
automobile men in the city. The funeral will be held tomorrow afternoon at 2 o'clock at the home, 1034 West Main Street and at. 3 o'clock at the First Christian church. Rev. Edwin Priest, the pastor will conduct the services. Music will be furnished by the church choir. The pall bearers will be John Lewis, Oscar Miller, W. M. Evans, John Lunkley, Jason Leason and Charles Stoker. Mr. Smith had stated several times in conversation with his employer, H. L. Bell, that should he get killed or die while in his employee, he wanted an automobile funeral. Mr. Smith declared that he did not want to be carried to his last resting place in a hearse. Mr. Bell of the Ottumwa Auto Co., with the assistance of the Reeves Auto Co., the Iowa Auto Sales Co., and the Agee Auto Co., will carry out the request in as detailed a manner as possible. It will be the first automobile funeral ever held in Ottumwa. A gray auto draped heavily in gray broad cloth will carry the remains in a gray casket to the cemetery. Preceding the funeral car will be the minister's, singers and pall bearer’s cars and the remaining automobiles will follow, carrying the bereaved family and the sorrowing friends.
Was Born in Bloomfield.
Mr. Smith was born in Bloomfield, Iowa, December 22, 1874 and came to Ottumwa when seven years of age. He learned the machinists trade and for the past three years has been chief machinist of the Ottumwa Auto Co. He was a most faithful and dependable man. His understanding of automobiles made his services invaluable to his employers. He leaves his wife, Carrie, his mother Mrs. Mary C. Smith, two brothers, Ernest and Russell and three sisters, Mrs. Blanch Young, Mrs. Laurence Sallee, and Miss Stella Smith, all of Ottumwa. Mr. Smith was a member of the O. U. W. lodge and his brother members will perform their ritualistic services at the grave in the Ottumwa cemetery. The deceased was well known throughout the city and leaves hundreds of friends who will deeply mourn
his death.
The First Christian church was packed with people at the funeral of Charles F. Smith Sunday afternoon.
Fifty automobiles were in the funeral procession. The long procession reached the church from the residence, 1034 West Main Street about 3 o'clock. The remains borne in their gray casket, reposed on gray pall placed high upon the funeral car. A gray broadcloth robe covered the entire pall. The six pallbearers. John Lewis. Oscar Miller, W.
M. Evans. John Lunkley, Jason Leason and Charles Stoker, carried the casket into and out of the church upon their
shoulders. Rev. Edwin S. Priest who conducted the funeral services, paid a high tribute to the dead man. The church choir furnished music both at the church and at the cemetery. Members of the A. O. U. W. also held services at the grave in the Ottumwa Cemetery.