Henry Walter Mahlum 1880-1969

MAHLUM, MARTIN, GUTZ, WARREN

Posted By: Merllene Andre Bendixen (email)
Date: 11/20/2013 at 23:12:25

Henry W. Mahlum Dies
Henry Mahlum, 89, longtime Estherville businessman, died Tuesday following a short illness. Although he had been in failing health, Mr. Mahlum was not hospitalized until two weeks ago.

Mr. Mahlum was a resident of Emmet county most of his life and was a furniture dealer and undertaker in Estherville for 37 years, retiring in 1945. He entered business here in 1908, his furniture store being located where the Daily News building now stands, and the undertaking establishment being situated in a portion of the Gardston hotel building that was adjacent to the furniture store. Charles Anderson joined the firm in 1913, and the business was known as Mahlum and Anderson until 1945, when it was sold.

Born on a farm southwest of Estherville on Feb. 17, 1880, the son of Mr. and Mrs. William Mahlum, Mr. Mahlum received his education in the Estherville schools, graduating from high school with the class of 1897.

Following graduation, he worked in the old P.L. Christiansen grocery and the E.C. Bryant general store prior to going to Minneapolis where he was employed.

In 1902 Mr. Mahlum went to South Dakota where he homesteaded and where he lived for three years. After a year of homesteading, Mr. Mahlum was married on Jan. 22, 1903, to the former Cora Martin of Dumont. The Mahlums observed their golden wedding anniversary in 1953 at a reception in Long Beach, Calif., where they wintered for many years. They had been married 66 years last January.

Only recently, Mr. and Mrs. Mahlum sold the family home at 18 N. 8th Street, which was built in the 1870’s, and had retired to the Good Samaritan Center.

Besides his widow, Mr. Mahlum is survived by two children: Mrs. Richard (Dorothy) Gutz of Laguna Hills, Calif., and Ralph of South Pasadena, Calif.; and two grandchildren: Robert Mahlum Gutz of Los Angeles and Mrs. Harvey Warren, Jr. of El Cajon, Calif.

Mr. Mahlum had been active in community affairs. He was a member of the Estherville Board of Education in 1925, at the time that the Estherville Junior College was formed. Following the depression he helped reorganize the Emmet County Bank, serving as president for five years after the reorganization in 1927. He was a member of the Methodist church, the Masonic lodge, Eastern Star, Rotary Club, and was a charter member of the Emmet County Historical Society.

Funeral services for Mr. Mahlum will be held Friday at 10:30 a.m. at the Fuhrman Funeral Home, with interment at Oak Hill cemetery. Rev. Richard Pearson will officiate. Friends may call at the Fuhrman Funeral home until time of services.

A Masonic service will be held at 8 p.m. Thursday at the Fuhrman Funeral Home. (Estherville Daily News, Estherville, IA, July 30, 1969)