Eberhart, William Vaughan 1879-1898

EBERHART

Posted By: Volunteer Transcriber
Date: 4/27/2005 at 07:49:00

The Newton (IA) Record Thursday, September 1, 1898
Passes Away After a Long Illness ­ Tribute by Rev. B. C. Baumgardner, Pastor of the Congregational Church
Eberhart, William Vaughan

It was with a sense of individual loss that the people of Newton learned of the death of William Eberhart on Tuesday of this week.

He had been ill for a long time and while he suffered much more than any of us shall ever know, yet our community thought it almost impossible to give him up. He was one of our noblest young men, manly, devoted to his home and everything good, sweet tempered, pure minded, self sacrificing, patient, courageous, loyal to his friends, his church, his young people’s society and Sunday school. He was magnanimous to all, a friend to him who needed a friend, alike respectful to high and low, to rich and poor, and respected in turn by all. He was a Christian, and in him shone all those graces, which distinguish the true follower of the Master. He was faithful in all his work, always present in his class, in is business and at the church, a loving brother and an obedient son.

His virtues were enshrined in a sweet modesty, which exalted his whole life, and won him friends wherever he went. All unconsciously his life had been shaping itself under a self-imposed discipline until the whole community felt its goodness and power. Earnest in his desire to lead a Christian life he saw the better always above the good, and never trusted himself to rest in his attainments. His request that we should say but little regarding him at this time grew out of the consciousness of the limitations as he measured himself against the high standards he had set himself.

To the end that he might be all he hoped for, he availed himself always of those helps best suited for his growth. He was a faithful student in our schools, graduated not only with the highest distinction, but with the added culture of soul, which made him the universal favorite. He was a faithful attendant upon the church into whose membership he early came. His voice was always heard in the Endeavor meeting where his words though few were always received as the outgrowth of a sincere life. At the University where he was privileged to study but a few months before his illness, he had already won the respect and friendship of classmates and faculty before the close of his first semester. While there he was not only a faithful student and an admired classmate, but a credit to his former teachers, to our public school and to our city. In his loss our people have been bereft of a most worthy representative in the chief seat of learning in our state, and by all the promise of his youth of a valued and useful citizen.

William Vaughan Eberhart was born Feb. 8, 1879, lived his childhood and youth in Newton, grew mature in soul life with his growth into manhood, saw the visions of worlds to be, and while denied their attainment here, he was caught up in their fullest realization, out of the limitation of the present and grasped the price of his high calling in that surer possession of soul which he had set for himself always as the end of life. After long and patient suffering he passed out into that liberty for which he hoped on Tuesday evening, Aug. 30. To the family and friends we bespeak the sincere sympathy of church and community and while words can never express our emotion, we tender this broken remembrance, begging only to stand in the shadow with them, while the great pageant of God’s salvation moves by and out with our friends.

The funeral services, at which the above beautiful tribute was read, were held this afternoon at the residence of the deceased’s parents. The K. T. Band attended in a body. There were a large number of beautiful floral pieces. The service was a most solemn and impressive one.

Originally submitted on Thu Aug 29 10:05:09 2002