Sumner, Florence May (Mrs. Wendell L.) 1869-1957

SUMNER, HOSKINS

Posted By: Paul Van Dyke-volunteer
Date: 6/13/2021 at 20:33:36

Source: Hawarden Independent (4-18-1957)

Born: June 21, 1869
Died: April 14, 1957

RESIDENT HERE 62 YEAR DIES AT AGE OF 88

Mrs. Florence May Sumner, 88, a resident of Hawarden 62 years and a former business woman here, died Sunday evening following a stroke. Her children were with her at the time of her death.

Funeral services were held at 2 o’clock Tuesday afternoon in the Associated Church with Reverend John Thorns officiating. Burial was in Grace Hill Cemetery under the direction of the Barnard Funeral Home.

Honorary pallbearers were J. E. Gearhart, F.B. Schoeneman, J.A. Armstrong, A.D. Horton, Walter Scott, C.H. Sedgwick, Sr., and Carl Olsen. Pallbearers were C.B. Thompson, Russell Younie, L.M. Scriven, Charles Horton, John Dalton and Ted Miller.

Florence May Hoskins was born June 21, 1869, in a sod house in Poland Township, Buena Vista County, Iowa, the daughter of pioneers from Ohio and Wisconsin, James Murdock Hoskins and Mary Wilson Hoskins. She was the first white child born in Poland Township.

At 16 she taught in the Sioux Rapids Schools, then entered a business college in Waterloo, Iowa. After this she was court reporter in Duluth, Minnesota.

On June 19, 1890, in St. Paul, Minnesota, she married Wendell Lansing Sumner of Upper Jay, New York. Two years following her marriage she lived at Upper Jay. She then lived in Minneapolis until January 1895, she came to Hawarden. Mr. Sumner had purchased the Chas. Frolich Furniture and undertaking business in Hawarden. Mrs. Sumner assisted in the management of the business. Mr. Sumner died in 1920 but the business was not sold until 1928.

As early as 1900 Mrs. Sumner was very active on the cemetery board and she and her two small boys would walk to the cemetery, spending days planting shrubs and trees. A member of the Congregational Church 62 years, she took an active part in the early days and served as president of the Ladies Aid two terms. She also had been a member of the Mother’s Club of the American Legion Auxiliary and was a member of the Avan Harmon Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution.

Four children were born to this union. One son, Manville L. preceded his mother in death in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma in 1948.

She is survived by two sons, James W/ of Battle Creek, Michigan and Wendell of Coral Gables, Florida; one daughter, Mrs. Flora Mattingly of Glen Ellyn, Illinois; five grandchildren, James P. Sumner of Battle Creek, Michigan, Harriet Garelis of Royal Oak, Michigan, Suzanne and Betty Sumner of Chicago and Peter Mattingly of Glen Ellyn, Illinois; two great-grandchildren, Theodore and Stephen Garelis of Royal Oak, Michigan; two brothers, Charles A. Hoskins of White Bear, Minnesota and Chester A. Hoskins of Sumner, Washington and one sister, Mrs. Luella Fairchild of Sioux Rapids, Iowa.