Judge Edward Montgomery McCall (1873-1934)

MCCALL, FITCHPATRICK, ALLEN, SOWERS, CRONENWETT

Posted By: Dorian Myhre (email)
Date: 3/25/2021 at 18:02:32

From Nevada Evening Journal October 29, 1934 (page 1)

JUDGE M'CALL DIED SUNDAY AT FORT DODGE HOME

FUNERAL OF FORMER NEVADA SCHEDULED FOR TUESDAY

Judge Edward M. McCall, 61, native son of Nevada and former judge of the Eleventh judicial district, died Sunday afternoon at 2:00 at his home in Fort Dodge, after an illness of about six weeks.

Funeral services will be held Tuesday afternoon at 1:00 at the Presbyterian church in Fort Dodge, after which the funeral party will accompany the body to Nevada and interment will be in the family lot in the Nevada cemetery, with brief services at 4:30.

Judge McCall, who for the past few years had held a high position in the legal department of the Illinois Central Railway, was taken ill about six weeks ago with an attack of pneumonia. Rallying from that heart troubles developed and he had since been very ill. For a few days it appeared that he might be on the road to recovery and he was moved from the hospital to his home, but Thursday morning there was a relapse and he failed very rapidly until the end.

Members of the family were with him when the end came.

He leaves besides his wife, the daughters Mary Allena and Harriett Sowers and a sister, Mrs. A. E. Cronenwet of Monrovia, California. The only brother Fred C. McCall passed away years ago in September.

Edward M. McCall was born in Nevada, August 30, 1873, the youngest son of Captain Thomas C. and Mary A. McCall. He attended the city school in Nevada, but left before graduation and enrolled at Cornell college at Mount Vernon, where he spent a year in special preparatory work, after which he entered Iowa State college at Ames in 1891, where he was a student for over three years.

From Ames he went to Iowa City where he took up the study of law, finishing there with the class of 1896 and at once locating for practice in Nevada, which continued his home until about ten years ago when he moved to Fort Dodge where he has since been in practice.

During his practice here he was for two years city attorney and from 1905 to 1909 he served as county attorney.

He was elected judge of the Eleventh Judicial district in 1915 and served until 1924, when he resigned his position on the bench to go to Fort Dodge to take up the practice of law.

He continued in private practice there until about two years ago when he was made attorney for the Illinois Central Railway company in charge of the Iowa legal business and he had been busy in the work connected with this position when he was taken ill.

In 1896 he was united in marriage to Genevieve Louise Fitchpatrick, younger daughter of Mr. and Mrs. J. A. Fitchpatrick. To this union two daughters were born. They are Mary, wife of Phillip Allen of Milford township, and Harriett, wife of Allen Sowers, also of Milford township.

The parents of both Mr. and Mrs. McCall were prominent in the membership of the Presbyterian church and it was there that they continued their church activities.

Politically he was a republican and he was a staunch advocate of the principals of that party, always being active in the party circles.

Mr. McCall, always active in church, social and civic affairs was interested in everything that pertained to the general welfare of the country and particularly of the community in which he lived.

Besides his position of the bench he had served upon the public library board of Nevada and had been actively identified with various fraternal organizations including the Masonic order in which he had attained a high rank. He was also a member of the Knights of Pythias and Odd Fellows.

Professionally his ideals were high and his efforts were always directed toward upholding the highest standards for ethics for his chosen profession.

A member of one of the oldest and most prominent families in Story county, he had spent his life living up to the traditions of the family and his memory will long be held very high in the minds of those who knew him best.

As husband and father, as a citizen and as a public servant his ideals were high and he was faithful to them.

In his passing the state loses a valuable citizen and Story county one of her favorite sons.