Capt. Wallace M. Greeley (1840-1917)

GREELEY

Posted By: Dorian Myhre (email)
Date: 7/31/2015 at 17:35:59

From Nevada Representative February 16, 1917 (front page)

CAPT. W. M. GREELEY SUDDENLY STRICKEN

DIES IN HIS SLEEP

Long and Useful Life Peacefully Ended

Captain Wallace M. Greeley of Ames, prominent in the affairs of the city, county and state, was found dead in his bed at his home in Ames Thursday morning. He had retired feeling well Wednesday night after a day and part of an evening at his bank and when he failed on Thursday morning to make his usual appearance investigation revealed the fact that his life had peacefully ended.

Capt. Greeley was born in Orleans county, New York, March 15, 1840, and died at Ames, Iowa, February 15, 1917, aged 76 years and 11 months. He was reated on afarm, taught school, went to the civil war as a private and returned as a captain, came out to Iowa and located on a farm near the new village of Ames, went back and married the girl he had left behind him, farmed for a few years, moved into Ames and started a bank, organized that institution later as the Union National Bank and still later added the adjunct of the Union Savings Bank; prospered through more than forty years of banking experience and became perhaps the richest man in Story county; served three times as mayor of Ames and through three sessions as representative in the general assembly; mixed as occasion demanded in affairs of home and general politics, and was in every sense of the form a leading citizen. When Andrew Carnegie had indicated a willingness to build a library for Ames, it was Mrs. Greeley who with Mr. Greeley's undoubted approval, gave the site for the library; because of his interest in the subject the splendid tabernacle of the Ames chautauqua is designated as the "Greeley Auditorium," when Story county had failed to respond to the proposal of Ames that the county build a county hospital in that city, it was he who, as a memorial to his wife, bought the lot for a hospital, paid all the cost of erecting and completing a model hospital building and presented the same of Ames. Mrs. Greeley died December 31, 1914, a little more than two years ago, and it was very plain to his friends that the world had not to him been quite the same world that it was before. He put his affairs in order, built the hospital as stated, made various other benefactions, some of them very large and was as ready as a man well can be when his summons came.

His heirs are his sister and two nieces. His funeral will be conducted from the Congregational church in Ames Sunday afternoon at half past two o'clock.

On the inside of the same issue of the newspaper:

CAPTAIN GREELEY

The death of Captain Wallace M. Greeley of Ames removes both suddenly and peacefully one of the most representative citizens of Story county, and it comes as a shock to the people of his city, his county and the state. But one must at the same time believe that it has come as he heimself would have ordered it if he had had the authority to order, and with a fate so kindly dealt friends have it not in their hearts to take issue. His work was substantially done; he had made all human provision that so much of it as should remain unfinished at his death should be continued thereafter; he had enjoyed the honors of his city and county; he was known and respected over the state; he had mourned as men are not often observed to mourn the death of his wife, he had dedicated to her memory a splendid hospital for the city where they lived and wrought; and then while yet in the seeming enjoyment of full health he lay down one night quietly to sleep, and never waked.

Captain Greeley was a good man and a great one. Industry, thrift, honorable dealing, notable business ability and an abundant gift of common sense were his. Also he had good health and a rugged constitution, and for him accordingly the road to success was a sure and safe one, and the goal once achieved was substantial. He was rich, and he made good use of money. He was possessed of large influence, and he exerted it for the good of the community and for the advancement of worthy men. He served his county in the general assembly and there as elsewhere stood consistently and effectively for causes that appealed to him as being based on conservative judgment and progressive instincts. He was an example for his fellow men, and he did not linger on beyond the time when he was still able to bear a real part among them and in their affairs. The common verdict is bound to be that the fortune which accompanied him through life was with him even in his death, and that all his fortune was well deserved.

From the Nevada Representative February 20, 1917

Funeral of Captain Greeley

The funeral of the late Captain W. M. Greeley was very largely attended and impressively conducted at the late residence at Ames Sunday afternoon. Of course the house was not nearly large enough to accommodate all the friends who came to pay their tributes of respect; but it is probably the largest residence in Ames and did accommodate a vary large number of such friends. Among them were practically all the survivors of the old-times in Ames, a committee from the general assembly and many other prominent men from over the state and numerous friends from near-by towns, all testifying notably to his standing and wervice as a public man. The services were conducted by Rev. Hawley, pastor of the Congregational church of Ames, and the other speakers were Dean Stanton of the State College, Parley Sheldon and Senator Ben Edwards. Of these others, Senator Edwards spoke for the legislative committee and presented on its behalf the political side of Captain Greeley's service. Mr. Sheldon reflected with especial fitness the business sentiments of Ames; while Dean Stanton, the vice president of Mr. Greeley's bank and his intimate business and personal associate through many years spoke with special eloquence and feeling form the personal point of view. It was a notable funeral of a notable man.