Catherine (Clary) DILLON

DILLON, CLARY, SULLIVAN, ESSER, WEESS

Posted By: Sarah Thorson Little (email)
Date: 2/6/2010 at 23:26:27

Catherine Clary Dillon
May 15, 1857 -- January 15, 1933

Clinton MO - Another mother has been taken into the shelter of the fold, for Sunday night, at 9:20, the spirit of Mrs. John Dillon was released from earthly life. She had been bedfast for ten days, but the past year she had been very frail. All possible was done to save the life of this gentle mother, by her daughter, Miss Margaret Dillon and daughter-in-law, Mrs. John Dillon, both nurses, and other relatives, but to no avail. Catherine Clary was born May 15, 1857, at Maple Park, Kane county, Ill. There she grew to young womanhood, born a quarter of a mile from the man whom she was later to marry. The childhood comradeship grew into love, and November 4, 1884, Miss Clary became the wife of John Dillon, capable young farmer. They were wed in Maple Grove, but soon came to Clarion, Iowa, where they made their home on a farm for ten years. The companionship of Mr. and Mrs. Dillon was beautiful but as years passed, a tender and subdued sweetness replaced the warmer ardor of youth. She was a woman truly made to keep a home, ruling her household with a firm hand, keeping it immaculate, and above all, with the great gold of mother love stored in her. The two had four children; a son died when eight years old, but the other three Miss Margaret a nurse; Gus in the post office, and John an electrician for the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, have fulfilled the expectations of their parents, grown into splendid men and women, have carried and will carry, the teachings of a pure mother and good father. They moved to Missouri in 1895, and lived on a farm six and a half miles southeast of Clinton, then 13 years ago moved to 800 North Second street, which has been their home since. Wherever the home was made, Mrs. Dillon was sure to become a beloved neighbor, for next to her husband, whom she placed first ever, and then her family, there came the neighbors, and her loving kindness to them afforded much pleasure. She was always busy, not one to go out of her home often, but alert and kept up with the latest news up to the latter days when her eyesight grew dim. She found peace and contentment in her home, and was happy and cheerful. A beautiful thing in this home was the devotion between the mother and only daughter. Miss Margaret would be away or nursing and when she returned, the mother's heart was filled with happiness. But it is to the husband who has been so near these 48 years, that the sorrow has come and no matter how full those years have been the breaking of this tie brings a pathos that fills the heart with sympathy. Throughout her lifetime, Mrs. Dillon had remained a faithful member of the Catholic church, and in that church the last funeral rites were conducted Tuesday morning. Interment was in Englewood Cemetery. Mrs. Dillon's cup of happiness was full, when the son John Dillon and his wife, from Pittsburgh, Pa., came to the Dillon home Christmas, accompanied by their son Pat, who was the idol of his grandmother's heart. He returned but Mr. and Mrs. Dillon remained. The other sisters, Mrs. John Sullivan of Elburn, Ill., and Miss Julia Clary of Rochelle, Ill., have been here to assist in caring for Mrs. Dillon, also her sisters-in-law, Mrs. Mary Esser of Kansas City, and Mrs. Frank Weess, Clinton.

Source unknown, ca. January 1933