West, Caroline L. (Mrs. William) 1853-1931

WEST, HEALD

Posted By: Paul Van Dyke --Volunteer
Date: 9/29/2015 at 23:17:54

Source: Hawarden Independent (3-5-1931)

Birth: May 9, 1853
Death: March 3, 1931

Mrs. William E. West, for more than sixty years a resident of this city and community, passed away at 10:30 Tuesday morning at the Sylvan Home in Sioux City where she had been cared for during the past several months. Her death followed several years of invalidism during which she was ever a patient sufferer, always anxious lest she become a burden to those charged with her care. Three or four years ago she suffered a fractured hip which was later followed by paralysis of her lower limbs and she has been bedfast most of the time since then. Last summer she was removed from Hawarden to Sioux City. During the past two months her condition has been critical but she displayed remarkable vitality and lapsed into unconsciousness only a few days preceding her death.

The body was brought to Hawarden Tuesday afternoon and funeral services will be held at 2 o'clock this afternoon at the Associated Church. The services will be in charge of Reverend William Wallace of Sioux Falls, formerly pastor of the Presbyterian Church of this city, assisted by Reverend R.J. Cornell, pastor of the Associated Church. Interment will be made in Grace Hill Cemetery where her husband is buried.

Caroline Lydia Heald was born in Plymouth, Ohio, May 9, 1853, and died in Sioux City, Iowa, March 3, 1931, having attained the age of 77 years, 9 months and 24 days. With her parents, Mr. and Mrs. Samuel Heald, and other members of the family, she came to Sioux County in 1870 and her father homesteaded on land which is now a part of the city of Hawarden. Soon after the arrival of the family here the first postoffice was established and Mr. Heald was installed as Calliope's first postmaster, although the postoffice was maintained in the Heald home fully a mile south of the Calliope town site. The deceased was a pupil in the first school ever established in Calliope.

On November 27, 1873, she was united in marriage with William E. West, who was then an old Sioux county settler, having arrived in Calliope in 1869. Mr. West had filed on a homestead in Washington township in 1872 and following their marriage they moved onto this claim where they made their home until 1880 when they moved to Calliope. Calliope and Hawarden have since been their home, with the exception of about a year preceding her husband's death when they made their home with their children in Sioux City, Boone and Wall Lake. They celebrated their golden wedding on November 27, 1923, and the following spring, on March 28, 1924, Mr. West passed away at Wall Lake. Following her husband's death Mrs. West returned to Hawarden and made her home here until last summer when she was moved to Sioux City where she might receive constant care.

Few people have lived in this immediate community over so long a span of years as Mrs. West, and relatively few have experienced in their lifetimes so great a transition from wild, sparkly settled prairie to modern homes and farms as fell to her lot. Hardships she endured, it is true, but they had their compensation in the friendships and neighborliness of the early settlers who were drawn to one another by common bonds.

Long an active member of the Presbyterian Church and ever a devout Christian woman, Mrs. West always found her deepest concern in the well being of her home and the contentment of the members of her family. She was ever ready to cheerfully make any sacrifice to enhance the happiness of her children. A true wife and mother - she also attracted innumerable friends who were drawn to her by her gentle, self sacrificing disposition and a recognition that she possessed a heart of pure gold.

Mrs. West is survived by three daughters, Mrs. Arthur F. Mullen and Mrs. Letha Wallace of Sioux City, and Mrs. Clarence Pardee of Boone, Iowa, and two sons, Max E. West of Beresford and Irl S. West of Estherville, Iowa. She also leaves two brothers, A.W. Heald of Littleton, Colorado, and Charles M. Heald of Spokane, Washington. In addition she leaves ten grandchildren and three great grandchildren.