Ola Avalene (Summerville) WICKENS

MCCOMBER, COOKINHAM, WICKENS, NETTLETON, HENDERSON, SUMMERVILLE, MINNICK, KIRK

Posted By: Sarah Thorson Little (email)
Date: 6/2/2013 at 14:23:16

November 3, 1863 -- May 8, 1940

Ola Avalene Summerville Wickens, 76, was the eldest of seven children of David William Summerville and Elizabeth Minnick Kirk. In 1865, at the age of a year and a half, she moved westward with her parents to Eastern Iowa, where they settled on a farm near Monticello in Jones County. She was educated in the rural and city schools in that area and later taught in the local schools. On April 5, 1887, she was married to George E. Wickens, of Sterling, Illinois, and thereafter resided for several years at Lincoln, Nebraska, where two sons were born. In 1891 the family moved to Iowa, living for brief periods at Cresco and Ayrshire and then at Fort Dodge, where a daughter was born. She was an active member of the First Congregational Church at that place.

In October 1898, the family moved to Bon Homme County, South Dakota, 13 miles west of Tyndall. With the coming of the railroad and the establishment of Avon, she became identified with the church and other activities of the new Community. Here a second daughter was born. Always giving willingly of her efforts for worthy purposes, she assisted in the various activities of the Methodist and Presbyterian churches. She was active in the early Temperance Movement and for many years was president of the Women's Christian Temperance Union of her community. She was a member of the Order of the Eastern Star, Morningside Chapter 502.

Since 1930 she had made her home in Scotland, South Dakota and in Sioux City. Death came on May 8, 1940 at Garfield Hospital, Washington, D. C., after a brief illness while on a visit to her son, David Lawrence Wickens, there. She leaves two brothers and two sisters, Lemuel Summerville of Pasadena, California, David K. Summerville of Platte, South Dakota, Mrs. Joseph D. McComber of Eagle Grove, Iowa, and Mrs. C. H. Cookinham of Ayrshire, Iowa. She also leaves two sons and two daughters, Geo. Ernest Wickens, lawyer, Chicago, David Lawrence Wickens of Washington, D. C., Mrs. William D. Nettleton of Sheldon, Iowa and Mrs. D. F. Henderson of Sioux City. There are eight grandchildren.

Avon Clarion -- Avon, South Dakota
May 16, 1940