Preston, Nellie 1860-1914

PRESTON, BLANCHARD, LANE, COLLINS

Posted By: Volunteer Transcriber
Date: 2/8/2010 at 11:28:17

Nellie Preston’s Funeral

Large Attendance-Beautiful Tribute to a Noble Woman

The funeral of Mrs. Nellie Blanchard Preston, wife of Judge B. W. Preston of the Iowa
Supreme Court, was held in St. James Episcopal church of Oskaloosa, on last Wednesday afternoon, March 18. The simple prayer service of the church was used with only a few comforting words by the rector and a solo by her long-time friend, Mrs. John A. Kalbach. The chancel was a bank of floral offerings, showing the high esteem in which Mrs. Preston was held. As the cortege left the church “Nearer My God to Thee” was played on the chimes. Mrs. Henry M. Vaughan and Mrs. Jay Clark of this city, friends of Mrs. Preston from their girlhood days in Newton, were present at the sad but beautiful services. Mrs. Preston’s sister, Mrs. Hattie Blanchard Lane of Dayton, Ohio, was present, but the other sister, Mrs. Mae Blanchard Collins of Los Angeles, was unable to be here.

From the Oskaloosa Herald of the 19th we get the following brief obituary of Mrs. Preston and beautiful tribute to her lovely character:

Nellie Blanchard was born in the town of Newton, Iowa, February 20, 1860. She was a daughter of M. A. and Mary Blanchard, both natives of Indiana. She was reared in the town of her birth. Marriage with Byron W. Preston was celebrated October 6, 1880. After about one year of residence at Newton, Mr. and Mrs. Preston went to Grinnell, where they remained about three years until coming to Oskaloosa in 1884, where they have since resided. Two children came to the union, Edith, the wife of Harry K. Spencer, living at Davenport, and Blanchard, a student of the State University at Iowa City. The daughter on account of illness was not able to be at the bedside of the mother in the last moments. M. A. Blanchard, father of the deceased, and the late Judge L. C. Blanchard, of Oskaloosa, were brothers and the deceased was a cousin of Mrs. B. O. Jerrell and Claude Blanchard of Oskaloosa. Mrs. Preston departed this life Monday, March 16, 1914, at 10:35 o’clock a. m., after an extended period of suffering, which tended to emphasize and to more clearly define the goodness and nobleness of an exceptional life.

The grief and sorrow everywhere occasioned by the passing of the good woman brings to surface the depths to which the influence of her life and her personality have penetrated. Her determination, her constant cheerfulness and brightness, under all circumstances have been an incentive to the lives of those who have come in contact with her and to those who may, perhaps, in passing have received only the kindly smile or word of approval.

In her illness Mrs. Preston endured affliction that would have overwhelmed another of less force of character. While resigned to the end, if such must be, Mrs. Preston never ceased to hope and to struggle and not until unconsciousness claimed her in the hours immediately preceding dissolution did her will cease to rule and to sustain her. The fight for life made by Mrs. Preston contains in itself a lesson worthy of consideration as even in her distress her example points the way.

Judge Preston’s associate members of the supreme court of Iowa were all present for the funeral service. Among others present from a distance were three brothers of Judge Preston-V. G. Preston and wife of Carwith, A. L. Preston and Geo. W. Preston of Avoca; Mrs. Dollie Cheney Towne and Mrs. Jennie Couch McCalmont of Des Moines; C. O. McLain, J. E. Cross, Henry Korf and O. P. Myers, attorneys of Newton, and Judges Silwold and Talbott of the district bench. ~ Newspaper unknown.