MERIWETHER, Lee: Died 1957

MERIWETHER

Posted By: Volunteer: Sherri
Date: 7/24/2015 at 14:14:56

LEE MERIWETHER'S REMARKS AT THE FUNERAL OF HIS WIFE ANN, MAY 18, 1957.

My Friends, I wish to say a few words about Ann before she leaves me forever. In her coffin here she wears the same gown she wore when she married me five years ago. Those years have not etched a single line on her forehead; she looks today as lovely as she looked five years ago, so that it is difficult for me to realize she will not presently open her eyes and exlaim:

"Lee, why are our friends gathered here? I am not dead. This is all a dreadful dream."

Alas, I know it is only too real. Two days ago as I sat by Ann's bedside in Saint Anthony's hospital I saw he eyes close, and then without a struggle, without tears or pain, she softly slipped into the vast ocean of yester-years.

Some people said it was silly for a man of 90 to indulge in romance; others said Ann was stupid to marry a man old enough to be her father; she was 37 years my junior. Such people should consider the case of the rocket and the oil lamp. The humble glow of a lamp is feeble indeed compared to the fierce flame of a rocket, but long after the rocket sputters and dies an oil lamp may continue to guide your way.

These people do not understand that after the passions of youth and the ambitions of maturity give way to reflection and observation of the passing show, life may be as interesting as when you were an active participant in the struggles of the day. At the supper in the San Diego Club on September 8, 1952 which followed the marriage ceremony I said:

"Within three months my clock will have been ticking 90 years, hence it must run down soon. But dear Ann, I promise you my few remaining years shall make you happy."

Could Ann speak to you she would tell you I have kept that promise. The five years that have passed since we married have been happy years for her and me. We have shared the same sorrows and the same pleasures - we have motored together in Europe and America - in short, we have enjoyed the intellectual companionship as deeply gratifying as the companionships of Flaming Youth.

I, being Ann's senior by thirty seven years, I thought of course she would survive me many years, but Fate has decreed otherwise. Ann is spared the loneliness of old age - a thing Youth can not understand.

Dear Ann, as long as I live two pictures of you will remain vivid in my memory - the picture of you the day in 1952 that Judge Sherry of California's Superior Court united is in marriage on the shores of the Pacific ocean, and the picture of you as you rest here in your coffin. You are wearing today the same gown you wore on our wedding day. You look as lovely today as you did then.

And so, my darling, I shall always remember you as you were on our wedding day, and as you are today, as you are about to leave me forever.
- - - - -
Extract from a news item in the
St. Louis GLOBE-DEMOCRAT, May 9, 1957.

LEE MERIWTHER GIVES TRIBUTE AT WIFE'S FUNERAL

After the Rev. W.W. Hohenschild, rector of the Episcopal Church of the Holy Communion, had delivered the funeral sermon Meriwether stepped to the bier and paid a moving tribute to his wife:

"Meriwether was formerly State Labor Commissioner of Missouri; he was a member of the diplomatic corps during World War One. He has written 20 books on his world travels and friendships with notables, from Jefferson Davis and Mark Twain to the present."

Source: Van Buren Co. Genealogical Society Obituary Book E, Page 93, Keosauqua Public Library, Keosauqua, IA