Purdum, Bruce Findley 1860-1929

PURDUM, FREEBORN, CONNER, ADAMS, VANDEVENTER, MCNEAL, GARNETT, LOGAN, ULRICH, STANFORD, WHITAKER

Posted By: Marilyn Holmes (email)
Date: 2/5/2011 at 11:17:26

The Grinnell (IA) Herald; Aug. 16, 1929

B.F. PURDUM FUNERAL HELD

Services From Christian Church in Montezuma Saturday Are Largely Attended.

GRINNELL ODD FELLOWS IN SERVICES AT GRAVE.

Mr. Purdum's Wish That Death Would Find Him "On the Job" Was Granted.

Funeral services were held over the body of Bruce Findley Purdum Saturday afternoon at 2:30 from the Christian church in Montezuma conducted by the pastor, the Rev. Milton Sippel. Interment was in the Montezuma cemetery.

The Odd Fellows, of which he had been a member in good standing for forty years, were in charge of the services at the grave. The Grinnell lodge was in charge and was assisted by four members of the Moulton lodge, in which Mr. Purdum retained his membership.

Mr. Purdum, who had been ailing for some time did not wish to give up his life's work and wanted to be "out on the job" when the final call came. In this he had his wish.

Bruce Findley Purdum was born in Appanoose county, Iowa, April 3, 1860, and departed from this life on August 7, 1929, in Grinnell, Iowa. At the time of his death he was 69 years, 4 months and 4 days of age.

On Dec. 3, 1881, he was united in marriage to Temperance Freeborn of Appanoose county, Iowa, she having preceded him in death on March 26, 1908. To this union four children were born, Mrs. Edith Conner of Detroit, Mich., Mrs. Myrtle Adams of Sterling, Colo., Mrs. Ethel VanDeventer and Ben Purdum, both of Montezuma, all of whom survive him.

On April 3, 1917, he was united in marriage to Mary A. McNeal of Montezuma, whom he leaves to mourn his passing.

Two sisters, Mrs. Flora Garnett of Montezuma and Mrs. Sarah B. Logan of Coatesville, Mo., are left to mourn his death. One sister, Mrs. Amanda Ulrich, passed away about two years ago.

He also leaves sixteen grandchildren. Six step-sons and two step-daughters also survive him, William, John and Walter McNeal and Mrs. Mary Stanford of Montezuma, Mrs. Jessie Whitaker, and Ben, Roy and Herman McNeal of Grinnell, and a host of relatives and friends to mourn his departure.

He was a true and loving husband and father and leaves a memory which time will not erase.

At the age of 34 he united with the Christian church near Dean, Ia., of which he was a faithful member for many years.

Bruce, as he was called by all who knew him, has spent the greater part of his life working for the public in one capacity or the other. As a contractor, his reputation was for honest and fair dealing. In his latter years, when he had charge of overseeing public construction, he gained the enviable record of fairness and absolute honesty in is dealings between all parties concerned. He had the happy faculty of being able to adjust himself to laborer and executive with equal understanding. Bruce was loved and respected by all with whom he came in contact, and he departs from us leaving that greatest legacy--the real exemplification of God's greatest creation, a man among men.