Grace E. Crenshaw, 1889 - 1975

CRENSHAW WHITE MERRILL MCCLIMANS NIXON LAXAN REEVES

Posted By: LaVerna K. Moser (email)
Date: 5/2/2009 at 19:10:31

G. CRENSHAW DIES; WAS MARENGO BUSINESS WOMAN
Mrs. Grace E. Crenshaw, 94, former Marengo businesswoman, died at 5:20 a.m. Thursday, July 3, 1975 at Hopedale hospital, Hopedale, Illinois. She had not recovered consciousness since suffering a stroke May 20 at Hopedale nursing home, where she had been a patient since August 1967. Her funeral was at 10 a.m. Saturday at Flinspach-Kurth Memorial home, Bloomington, Illinois, the Rev Robert Ashman, Centennial Christian church, officiating. Burial was in Oakwood cemetery, Geneseo, Illinois, in a plot where eight other members of the McClimans famiy are buried. She came to Marengo in 1912 to operate the Ketcham hotel with her first husband, Coral W. White, to whom she was married December 24, 1907, in Ogden, Utah. Later she lived with the W. C. Merrills and clerked in their grocery store. She was married to B. F. Crenshaw December 29, 1914, in Iowa City. They took over operation of the depot hotel in 1913(1918?), managing it as the River-to-River Hotel until his death in 1929. From 1929 to 1933 she owned Crenshaw's cafe, also across from the railroad station. From 1934 to 1947 she owned the Marengo cafe where JJ's Clothing is now located on the south side of the square. In 1937 it became Marengo's first business to have air conditioning. At her location on the square she became known for giving candy treats to children who picked wild flowers for her to use as table decorations. She worked briefly for the Little Chicago cafe, Williamsburg, before moving to St. Petersburg, Florida, in 1947. She served as housekeeper, chauffeur, and companion for several elderly St. Petersburg women before returning to the midwest in 1963 to keep house for her brother, Floyd McClimans, in Omaha. He died in 1967. She was born October 31, 1889, in a log house on the Nebraska homestead of her parents, Richard and Alta Nixon McClimans. Her father and grandfather were among the first half dozen settlers in the sand hills region of northern Nebraska. After completing a normal training couse at Burwell, Nebraska, she taught in several country schools. Then she was elected Garfield county Nebraska Superintendent of schools for the 1905-06 term, defeating three men opponents. She was a member of the Eastern Star since young womanhood in Nebraska and also belonged to the Rebekah Lodge. She held her memberships in Marengo until her death. Survivors include a son, Roland A. White, 802 Bellepark Drive, Champaign, Illinois; a step-daughter, Mrs. Albert (Helen Crenshaw) Laxan, 1409 E. 2nd Street, Bloomington, Indiana; a sister, Mrs. Mabel J. Reeves, Denver, Colorado, and several nieces and nephews.