Arrena Belle (Webb) CUTHBERT

CUTHBERT, WEBB

Posted By: Sarah Thorson Little (email)
Date: 1/31/2015 at 16:41:09

December 8, 1873 --- March 31, 1910

Arrena Belle Webb was born December 8, 1873 in Boyden, Sioux county, Iowa, where she resided until her marriage to Alfred R. Cuthbert, April 25, 1893. Graduated from the Boyden High School, she later attended a seminary at Wessington Springs, South Dakota. As a pastor’s wife she superintended the parsonage home at Fostoria, at Estherville, while serving the Estherville Circuit, at Plover, Jolley, Lake View, Livermore, Cylinder, and Goldfield.

Four children came to gladden the hearts of Sister Cuthbert and her husband; Alela Marian, Gladys Lovella, Wilfred Denham, and Clarence Thomas, all of whom survive. She was recovering encouragingly after the birth of the last named, and was sitting up for the first time in the afternoon of March 31, when suddenly she complained of feeling faint, and asked her daughter Gladys to call her father and the physician. Both reached her bedside within a few minutes, but were unable to relieve her, and after a few words of farewell, she prayed, “Come, Lord Jesus, Come and take me,” and was not, for her prayer was answered, and God had taken her.

The funeral services were held in the church at Goldfield, under the direction of the writer and the Rev. C. H. Van Metre and the Rev. W. H. Spence assisting. The interment was at Goldfield. Sister Cuthbert was a beautiful character. She possessed a gentle, refined personality. Of a retiring nature, she doubtless found exceedingly difficult the leaving of old friends and the making of new, which the Methodist itinerancy necessitated. But she bravely faced these changes, and everywhere was dearly beloved by the people to whom they ministered. Always thoughtful for others, tactful and kind as she engaged in her social and church duties, a mother and a home-maker of whom her husband needed never be ashamed, no District Superintendent would ever, on her account, need hesitate to send her husband to any charge he might be considering, for she should have graced any parsonage in the Conference.

It was always a joy to me to be entertained in her home. There was a delicacy in her greeting, and an evident purity in her spirit, that were an inspiration to a kindlier, gentler, purer, more Christ-like life. She was cut off in the midst of her days; why, we cannot understand. But I am sure that Brother Cuthbert, with whom she had lived so happily for nearly seventeen years, has so learned the love of God that he is willing to “let his lover choose for him”. And of her it can be said, “She has not gone out, but gone on”, and the influence of her sweet character, and Christ-like loving thoughtfulness, and sincere devotion to her Master, will go on through the years.

O. K. Maynard
Official Record, Northwest Iowa Annual Conference - Methodist Episcopal Church, 1910