METTIE (PITMAN) LINDSEY

PITMAN, LINDSEY, NELSON, BOWMAN, GARDNER, HILLIKER, CASTER

Posted By: Nancee(McMurtrey)Seifert (email)
Date: 5/13/2002 at 18:50:05

Decatur County Journal
Thursday, March l0, l92l

MRS. METTIE PITMAN LINDSEY, for many years a resident of Leon, died unexpectedly on Tuesday morning, March lst, l92l, at Globe, Arizona. Her demise followed three weeks after a hospital operation which was at first thought to have been entirely successful and a certain means to early recovery from a physical ailment which had suddenly menaced her life.

For several days her condition was encouraging and indications of the best. High hopes for her restoration to health were entertained, but her enfeebled body, racked with pain and ravaged by many years of ill health and intense activity, could not longer be controlled by the indomitable will, so the weary wheels of life stood still and her gentle soul glided quietly over the Great Divide into life eternal.

With her during the trying days in the hospital was her sole surviving daughter, MRS. LOUISE C. NELSON, with whom she had made her home and been an almost constant companion during the last twelve years. All that loving care could accomplish, all that daughterly affection could suggest, was offered in cooperation with the skilled surgeons and nurses but to no avail.

MRS. LINDSEY's life of 65 years was a peculiarly sad one, a fact well known to her many Leon friends. Born June l8, l855, a daughter of MR. and MRS. ED K. PITMAN, of Leon, she saw as a young girl her beloved mother slowly fade and pass away. With the fine undaunted spirit of sacrifice which went with her all through life, she bravely assumed the heavy yoke and bore the burden of caring for the household and guiding the faltering footsteps of two younger sisters and a brother, the latter hardly beyond the baby stage. Even after a kind new mother entered the home, MRS. LINDSEY, then still but a frail maiden, maintained the maternal role, and the loving counsel and Christian teachings heard at the knee of "the little mother" have always remained as a sweet recollection and a guiding star in the memories of those orphaned children, all grown to maturity long, long ago.

The sacrifice of those earlier years left an indelible impression upon the character of MRS. LINDSEY. Always patient and kind, yet firm when necessity demanded, she went through a sorrow-stricken life, putting aside seemingly insurmountable obstacles and emerging from every mental and physical trial and struggle sweeter and purer in disposition and thought than before.

Early in life she joined the Christian Church of Leon and with abounding trust in God and the Savior she lifted up her grief-bowed head time and time again and smiling through her tears took up the cross with an unshaken belief that "sometime we'll understand."

Surely, her simple faith and unwavering steadfastness in the assurances of the Holy Word have not been without compensating results in her own life and in the lives of us who knew her best and loved her for her gentleness and goodness.

In October, l877, she was married in Leon to HIRAM A. LINDSEY. Three daughters were born to this union, JOSEPHINE, the second child dying in infancy. The younger daughter, MRS. LAURA BOWMAN, departed this life Aug. 29, l9l4, and a dearly loved grandson to whom MRS. LINDSEY had been as a mother, passed away shortly before that date. There survives now but one of the family, MRS. LOUISE C. NELSON of Globe, Arizona, who has been the stay and comfort of her mother in her declining years.

Her husband having died in March 20, l897, MRS. LINDSEY soon afterwards resumed the profession of teaching, being assigned to the primary department of the Leon Public Schools, a position to which she was re-elected year after year, finally resigning to enter the employ of the Federal Government, filling positions as matron and teacher in Indian schools at various points in the west and southwest.

Health conditions finally impelled her to locate in Arizona where her daughter, MRS. NELSON, joined her as a fellow employee in the Government Indian service, work in which she is now engaged. Life in that healthful climate and state of romance and history possessed much charm for MRS. LINDSEY and her later years amid the mountains and other wonderful glories of nature were peaceful and contented. She loved the woods and streams, the broad fields and wide spaces, the towering peaks and eternal hills, all the primitive beauty and grandeur fresh from the Creator, and in the companionship of her loving daughter, realized the satisfaction and comfort which she so justly deserved. She found a great pleasure in reading and kept thoroughly posted on all the important questions of the day. There was never any impairment of her splendid intellect and her conversation was at all times interesting and entertaining.

Her services in the Leon Schools were valuable. Many of the younger married men and women of Leon were primary pupils of MRS. LINDSEY and remember her as a teacher of whom it may truthfully be said that she was usually hurt more by punishment than the pupil who received it.

She was a loyal member of the Order of the Eastern Star of Leon and thoroughly believed in and lived up to the precepts of that splendid Organization.

Besides MRS. NELSON, her daughter, MRS. LINDSEY is survived by a number of relatives, among the nearer ones being two sisters, MRS. ORRA GARDNER, of Leon, and MRS. H.A. HILLIKER, of Des Moines; an only brother, E.K. PITMAN, of Northwood, Iowa, J.H. PITMAN, an uncle, J.M. and J.A. CASTER, step-brothers, all of Leon, and several cousins, nieces and nephews, who live in this vicinity.

The body was brought to Leon from Globe by MRS. NELSON, arriving here Sunday afternoon. MR. and MRS. HARMON MCKINLEY, in whose residence MRS. GARDNER has an apartment, kindly placed downstairs rooms at her disposal, thus affording the comforting seclusion of a private home for the reception of the casket.

Funeral services were held at the Christian Church at three o'clock Monday afternoon, conducted by Rev. P.H. Green, the Pastor. The church was filled with sympathizing friends and members of the Eastern Star attended in a body. Floral tributes were many and beautiful. Appropriate hymns were sung by a quartet composed of Mrs. C.G. Cline, Mrs. J.A. Caster, T.W. Colby and C.G. Cline. Five nephews and a cousin acted as pall bearers. Interment was made in the family lot in the Leon Cemetery, where lie the bodies of her husband, two daughters, and a grandson.

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Copied by Nancee(McMurtrey)Seifert
List Administrator; Decatur County, Iowa GenWeb
http://www.rootsweb.com/~iadecatu
May l0, 2002