James M. Olinger (-1909)

OLINGER

Posted By: Gail and Dennis Bell
Date: 6/16/2005 at 08:09:00

THE MAXWELL TRIBUNE, Maxwell, Iowa, Thursday, April 11, 1909, page 4. "DEATH OF JAS. M. OLINGER - Drops Dead While at Work in the Cemetery on Monday of this Week. Death is in the world and the despoiler is among the works of the Almighty. All that is born must die. It has been truly said that in the midst of life we are in death, and this was most forcibly brought to the minds of our people Monday afternoon when word was bought to town that James M. Olinger had dropped dead while at work in the cemetery. On that day he was helping the Gamble brothers to remove the family monument, and they had completed the work, gathered up their tools preparatory to departing for home, when Mr. Olinger said: "Hold on, boys, I believe I forgot my trowel." These were the last words he ever spoke. He fell over and expired at once. Dr. Joor was hastily summoned and after a thorough examination pronounced the cause as heart failure and said that death was instantaneous. Undertaker S. E. Cooper removed the body to the family home in the north part of town and prepared it for burial. Mr. Olinger was one of the oldest settlers in this locality and for many years lived on a farm northeast of town where he acquired a competence and reared his family. About ten years ago he removed to Maxwell and.."