WATKINS, Herbert N. 1884-1951

WATKINS, STAMBAUGH

Posted By: Tammy (email)
Date: 4/11/2015 at 06:19:11

H. N. Watkins Died Suddenly While Shoveling Snow

Herbert N. Watkins, age 66, died suddenly Monday at 12:30 noon while helping his son Lawrence shovel snow at the Lawrence Watkins home. Lawrence and Art Hasbrouck, a neighbor, saw Mr. Watkins fall about the same time. He was dead when they reached him. Mr. Watkins had never been very ill. He had been shoveling snow most of the morning and the strain was too much for his heart to bear.

Funeral services will be held in the First Presbyterian church Thursday afternoon at 2 o'clock with Rev. Gerben VanPutten officiating. Burial will be in the cemetery west of town beside his wife and sons. The nephews will be pallbearers.

Herbert N. Watkins, son of William and Mary Watkins, was born December 1, 1884, on a farm near Galt in Wright county, Iowa. The family moved to Grundy county when Herbert was a small youth, living on various farms in Palermo township. He graduated from the Grundy Center high school in 1901 and taught in the rural schools of Palermo township for several years. He went to Colorado to homestead and while there he met Hattie Stambaugh, who became his wife. They were married November 30, 1910, at Arriba, Colo., The family returned to Grundy county in 1913 and Mr. Watkins resumed his teaching. They spent a year from 1921 to 1922 in California. When they returned to Grundy county the family farmed in this community until 1931; then they moved into Grundy Center where they continued to make their home.

Mr. and Mrs. Watkins were the parents of six children. He was preceded in death by his parents, his wife, who died in 1938, and by two sons, Eldon and Melvin, both of whom died in 1931. He is survived by one son, Lawrence, of Grundy Center, and three daughters, Eileen, Mrs. Myron Johns, Grundy Center; Harriett, Mrs. Paul Amos, Independence, Mo.; and Doris, Mrs. Dick Hutchison, Washington, D.C. There are also six grandchildren; four brothers, Howard, Washington, D.C.; Harold, Cohasset, Minn.; Harry, Ovid, Colo.; and Frank, Grundy Center; also three sisters, Mrs. Harry Schafer, Mrs. John Cone and Miss Ida Watkins, all of Grundy Center.

Mr. Watkins had been a faithful member of the First Presbyterian church for many years, and had only recently been presented an award for 15 years of perfect attendance in Sunday School. He was a kind and loving father, and was never one to complain. He shall be greatly missed by his children, grandchildren, relatives and many friends. He had made his home with his son in recent years.

--The Grundy Register (Grundy Center, Iowa), 15 March 1951, pg 1