Grabau, Martha May (Phillips) 1875 – 1932

GRABAU, PHILLIPS, GOETSCH, MURRAY, STEVENS

Posted By: Joy Moore (email)
Date: 4/5/2013 at 12:50:26

Source: Cresco Times December 7, 1932, Page 2

Mrs. L. E. Grabau, who had been ill for several years, passed away at her home in Bonair, Ia., Wednesday Nov. 3. Martha May Phillips, daughter of J. M. and Rosetta Phillips, was born on her father’s homestead one and one-half miles northeast of Bonair, in Albion Twp., Aug. 12, 1875. When she was about five years of age her parents moved to her father’s farm two and one-half miles northeast of Bonair, where she grew to womanhood. She was united in marriage to L. E. Grabau Aug. 22, 1894 at Preston, Minn. Loathing to leave her mother with the caring for a father and a large family of brothers, the next three years of her life were spent at her parental home. In 1899, she, with her husband and two children, moved to Bonair to occupy a new home which was soon completed, and which has continued to be her home until her death.

Four children were born to this union Mrs. Will Goetsch, Albion Twp.; Mrs. D. L. Murray, Albion Twp.; E. L. Grabau of Lakota, Ia.; and Mrs. J. O. Stevens of Bonair. She leaves to mourn her untimely death her husband and four children, one sister, five brothers, ten grandchildren, a number of nieces and nephews and a host of friends.

She was early interested in church activities, attending in the school houses when held, the old hall at Bonair, and other pioneer churches provided at that time. After the erecting of the M. E. Church at Bonair in 1906 she became a member and actively engaged in the promotion of all its activities, helping with Ladies’ Aid, teaching in Sunday School and acting as secretary and treasurer of same until failing health prevented her engaging in the work which was so dear to her. Hers was a perfect and undying faith.

Mrs. Grabau will be greatly missed from her home where she was a faithful mother always doing what she could to lighten labors for others and make things pleasant and congenial for all her associates, especially little children. She was never known to make a critical remark concerning anyone but found pleasure in speaking of their good qualities. No wayfarer was ever turned from her door until he had received food and a genuine heartfelt sympathy. Her good deeds and divine character will always be a cherished treasure to those who knew her. No words we can use can even approach the expression of the beauty of such a wife and mother. She not only professed but lived a wholesome and sweet Christian life – a faith exemplified thus:

Sunset and evening star
And one clear call for me
And may there be no moaning of the bar
When I put out to sea.
But such a tide as moving seems asleep
Too full for sound and foam
When that which drew from out the boundless deep
Turns again home.
Twilight and evening bell
And after that the dark
And may there be no sadness of farewell
When I embark.
For, though from out our borne of time and place
The flood may bear me far
I hope to see my Pilot face to face
When I have crossed the bar.

Mother lives, not with us, but with the Giver of all good and perfect gifts.

Funeral services were held from the home at 1:30 p.m. and from the Methodist Episcopal Church of Bonair at 2:00 p.m. Rev. Richard Prescott in charge. Burial was in the family lot at the Phillips cemetery.

An Appreciation

We wish to express our sincere thanks and appreciation to our many friends who helped us so kindly during the illness and passing away of our beloved wife and mother.

L. E. Grabau
Mrs. Will Goetsch
Mrs. D. L. Murray
E. L. Grabau
Mrs. J. O. Stevens

Transcribed from a newspaper clipping submitted by Janice Sowers.

Phillips Cemetery
 

Howard Obituaries maintained by Constance McDaniel Hall.
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