Spears, Josephine 1883-1940

SPEARS, WILMES, LYNCH, OLDHAM, CODDINGTON, THOMA, MULLANEY, BLAUL, WILLMES

Posted By: Ethel Cunningham (email)
Date: 3/26/2023 at 13:06:44

Funeral Rites For Accident Victim

Friends Pay Tribute To Josephine Spears

Last rites were held Monday for Mrs. Josephine Spears, wife of G. B. Spears, of Sioux City, formally of Le Mars, at St. Joseph church in this city and were largely attended.

Mrs. Spears was killed in an automobile collision Wednesday night near Vermillion, S. D., and her nephew and niece, Mr. and Mrs. Will Lynch, were badly injured and are in a hospital at Vermilion still in a critical condition.

Members of the Catholic Daughters of America assembled at the Lynch residence Sunday evening at a rosary service in memory of the deceased woman and people of all faiths gathered to offer condolences and express sympathy.

The requiem mass was celebrated by Msgr. J. D. Fisch.

Josephine Wilmes was born May 30, 1883, at St. Donatus, Iowa, and when an infant came to the Le Mars with her parents, Mr. and Mrs. Nick Wilmes. Her father was a stonemason and helped in the construction of many buildings. Mr. and Mrs. Nick Wilmes later engaged in the hotel business and were appreciated in their efforts by a long list of borders.

Josephine Wilmes was married in 1910 to G. B. Spears, an employee of the Sentinel newspaper, and lived later in Sioux City and Omaha, always maintaining close relations with their home town, Le Mars.

Mrs. Spears leaves to mourn her death her husband, two brothers, Adam Wilmes, Sioux City, Peter Wilmes, of Evanston, Ill., and a sister, Mrs. Edgar Oldham, of Bremerton, Wash.

Four sisters and a brother, all well known in Le Mars, preceded her in death, Mrs. Fred Coddington, Mrs. John Thoma, Mrs. J. Mullaney, Mrs. O. Blaul and Nick Wilmes.

Among relatives who came to attend the funeral are Mr. and Mrs. E. G. Oldham of Bremerton, Wash., Harold Oldham of Des Moines, Adam Wilmes of Sioux City, Mrs. Howard Henry of Chicago.

(Le Mars Semi-Weekly Sentinel - May 7, 1940)