King, Ida N. (1928)

KING, KETTLE, PATRICK, FALM, SAUM, DOANE

Posted By: Marilyn Holmes (email)
Date: 9/16/2009 at 20:15:47

Grinnell, Iowa Herald

MISS IDA N. KING PASSES

Sudden Death of Talented Woman Brings Sadness to Many Friends.

Miss King Was Assistant to Business Manager of Grinnell College.

A large circle of Grinnell friends were shocked and grieved Tuesday morning to learn of the unexpected death of Ida N. King. Miss King had left her work in the office of the busienss manager of the college the night before without a thought that anything could happen to prevent her being there at the regular time in the morning. The manager, Mr. Phelps, was going to Cedar Rapids and called her home at about a quarter to eight to tell her where he would be in case she needed him during the day. He received no answer and supposed she was at breakfast and went about his business.

About nine o'clock when she had not appeared at the office her niece Katherine Kettle called her mother and suggested that she had better go and see her aunt to see if anything was the matter. When Mrs. Kettle went to the home she found Miss King on the floor where she evidently had fallen in some kind of a faint or following a stroke and at once a physician was called. The body was still warm showing that she had fallen to the floor and had not been dead over three or four hours.

Miss King is one of the brightest women Grinnell has ever claimed. She graduated from high school in 1887. Some time after her graduation the family moved to Kellogg and then to Newton. She entered the office of the Newton Journal and learned to set type. When the senior of the Herald became a partner in the office of the Herald Miss King was a typesetter of unusual speed and accuracy and was a young woman of quick perception, quick to see, quick to act and almost perfect in the production of her work. She stayed in the Herald office for a number of years, and afterwards taught school in the public schools of Coon Rapids for a number of years. She then decided to take the training of a nurse and went to Chicago, entering one of the hospitals there. She followed the occupation of a nurse for several years but it evidently was not to her liking and she later took up her early avocation as a printer and worked for a time on the University Press in Chicago. She afterwards returned to Grinnell and re-entered the employ of the Herald where her added experience made her one of the most successful of all the printers we have ever had in our employ. About nine years ago she left the Herald to take up a position in the business office of the college. Here her fine judgment, her excellent qualities of mind and her diligence made her soon one of the most successful and trusted of all the employees the college office has had. She rapidly advanced in her knowledge of the work required and in her adaptation to it until she occupied when she died a position which required not only a keen mind but strict attention to detail and accuracy in her work. She became so trustworthy that many of the real important details of this important office were intrusted to her care and the confidence given her was never misplaced.

In her church relationship she was a Christian Scientist and she lived the life which the teachings of that denomination try to exemplify, with full confidence in her own power and strength and a strong determination to live the life which Christ taught and lived.

Her death is a real loss to the best interests of any community and the Herald is a sincere mourner because we knew her power, knew her character and her usefulness and Christian manner of living.

Funeral services were conducted from the home Thursday at eleven o'clock in charge of Mrs. Henry Rollins, Christian Science reader from Des Moines. The huge banks of flowers which shrouded the casket were beautiful evidences of the friendships she had made and of the wish of those friends to express their appreciation for her. The services were impressive and were also a living testimony to her character and faith.

Present to attend the funeral were her brother-in-law, B.O. Patrick and wife, Mr. and Mrs. Max Patrick, Mr. and Mrs. Richard Patrick and Mrs. Charles Patrick, all of Des Moines; Mrs. Jay Falm of Chicago, Mrs. Lou Doane and son, Charles of Kellogg.

She leaves to mourn her loss her sister, Mrs. Ella Kettle and niece Katherine Kettle, and Mr. and Mrs. B.O. Patrick.