HILLYGUS, Marion 1914-1934

HILLYGUS

Posted By: Tammy (email)
Date: 4/1/2017 at 18:19:28

Mystery Surrounds Sudden Death Of Marion Hillygus

20 Year Old Daughter Of Mr. And Mrs. Bert Hillygus Dies Suddenly Saturday Morning

Marion Hillygus, the 20 year old daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Bert Hillygus, died suddenly at the home of L. M. Truman in Grundy Center Saturday morning. The cause of her death has not yet been ascertained.

Miss Hillygus spent the night at the home of her parents. She ate breakfast with them Saturday morning and was apparently in good health and in good spirits. She had arranged during breakfast to do some shopping with her mother during the forenoon. She left home after breakfast to go to the home of Mr. and Mrs. L. M. Truman in the next block, where she had been doing household work and looking after the household during the daytime while Mrs. Truman was taking care of her husband's office. Shortly after she arrived and after Mr. and Mrs. Truman had left home she complained to Margaret Truman, who was at the Truman home with her, that she had a headache, and she lay down on the davenport. She appeared to be getting worse and Miss Truman called Dr. Mol who came to the home at once. The doctor asked her whether she had taken anything, but she was unable to give him an intelligent answer. There were no symptoms of poison, but the patient's pulse weakened very rapidly. Dr. Mol asked that Dr. Thielen be called in consultation on the case, but when the second doctor arrived the girl was past hope of saving and she passed away in a few minutes.

A postmortem examination was held and specimens of the stomach and kidneys were sent for examination to the state hospital at Iowa City. First report of this examination did not show the presence of poison and the cause of the girl's death has not yet been discovered.

Funeral Services Tuesday
Funeral services were held at the home Tuesday afternoon and later at the Christian Reformed church at Holland with the local pastor, Rev. Voskuil, officiating. Burial was in the Drake church cemetery. There was a very large attendance at the church services.

--The Grundy Register (Grundy Center, Iowa), 22 November 1934, pg 7

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Obituary

Marian Hillygus was born at Holland, Iowa, Feb. 12, 1914, and was 20 years, 9 months and 5 days old at the time of her death.

She was baptized into the Covenant privileges of the church by the Rev. Weiland, a friend of the family. She was a faithful attendant at the Sunday school of the Holland Christian Reformed church and also a member of the King's Daughters of the same church.

The first 17 years of her life she spent at home with her parents in the vicinity of Holland and then moved with them to Grundy Center.

She is survived by her parents, five brothers and sisters. The oldest brother, Cornelius, passed away ten years ago, in 1924, at the same youthful age of twenty years. Several brothers and sisters died in infancy.

Those who remain to mourn her loss are the father and mother, Mr. and Mrs. Bert Hillygus; her brothers and sisters, Mr. and Mrs. John Peters (Elizabeth Hillygus) and family, Mr. and Mrs. Lee Hillygus, Robert, Clara, Allan, Glen, and her fiancee, Lester Huisman; besides the other relatives, Mrs. Lena Poppenga of Holland; Mr. and Mrs. Geo. Canfield, Mr. and Mrs. L. B. Canfield, Mr. and Mrs. John Rayburn of Grundy Center, Mr. and Mrs. O. Schwenn of Marshalltown, Mr. and Mrs. Lee Nelson, Mr. and Mrs. Nels Nelson of Fairmont, Minn., all of whom were present at the funeral; and Mr. and Mrs. Walter Klint of Pletone, Ill.

Funeral services were held at the home Tuesday at 1:00 and at the Christian Reformed church of Holland, where she was a baptized member, Rev. Louis Voskuil officiating. Rev. A. Annette of Grundy Center also spoke briefly at the church. Appropriate songs were sung by Mrs. Canfield at the home; by a trio from the Baptist church, and a solo was sung by Miss Esther Meyer, who also sang at the funeral of the oldest son, Cornelius.

Interment was made at the Drake cemetery where Rev. Voskuil spoke appropriate words and Dr. Drake offered prayer.

Marian will be greatly missed by all who knew her. She was blessed with a very genial and cheerful disposition. She leaves a host of friends to mourn her early departure.

The bereaved family wishes to extend its sincere and hearty thanks to all the neighbors and friends for their help and expressions of sympathy, for the floral gifts and also to all who contributed to the solemn service.

--The Grundy Register (Grundy Center, Iowa), 22 November 1934, pg 7

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Marion Hillygus Death Not Due To Poisoning

Final report on the chemical analysis of the contents of the stomach and other organs of the late Marion Hillygus has been received by the attending physician from the State College of Pharmacy at Iowa City. The report states that no traces of ordinary poisons such as lead, arsenic, strychnine or other alkaloids or corrosive poisons can be found. The bottle of red pills which figured in the case was found to be a variety of Hinkle's pills containing cascara and a small quantity of strychnine.

Since the young woman's symptoms before death did not indicate strychnine poisoning, the red pills seem to be eliminated as a possible cause. The real cause of her sudden illness and death, which occurred Saturday morning, Nov. 17th, remains an unsolved mystery.

--The Grundy Register (Grundy Center, Iowa), 6 December 1934, pg 1