Jennie June (Whyte) Ottilie (1888-1938) Alternate

ANDERSON, CUNNINGHAM, HENRY, MCGOWAN, OTTILIE, SEVAREID, WHYTE

Posted By: Eileen Reed
Date: 2/10/2024 at 13:06:58

University of Northern Iowa Alumnus
Vol. 23, # 2, p. 28
April 1, 1939

Mrs. W. A. Ottilie

The former Jennie June Whyte died at her home in Manchester, Iowa, April 2 [1], 1938. She married while a teacher at Goldfield, Iowa where W. A. was superintendent. Surviving members of the family are her husband and their five children.

Whyte, Jennie June (Student, 1905)
____________________________________________________________

The Manchester Democrat-Radio
Manchester, Iowa
Tuesday, April 5, 1938
Page 1, Column 2

Mrs. W. A. Ottilie, wife of former county superintendent, died at her home on East Howard street here Friday night, April 1, 1938; following a long period of illness. During the last few months Mrs. Ottilie passed through intense suffering and all that medical skill and tender nursing could do proved of no avail.

Funeral services were held in the Shelly funeral home here Sunday afternoon, in charge of the Rev. James McInnis of Deep River, Ia., former pastor here, assisted by the local pastor of the Presbyterian church, the Rev. D. E. Freeman. Following the services, the remains were taken to the home of Mrs. Ottilie’s mother, Mrs. Agnes Whyte, at Goldfield, Iowa, where another service was held Monday afternoon. Burial followed in the family lot at Goldfield.

Jennie J. daughter of George and Agnes Whyte, was born at Goldfield, Iowa, June 12, 1888. She spent her early life there, graduated from the Goldfield high school. She then prepared herself for the profession of teacher at I. S. T. C. at Cedar Falls and taught at Goldfield for five years.

Aug. 21, 1912, she was married to Mr. Ottilie, and for several years the home was made at various places in northeastern Iowa, including Winthrop, where Mr. Ottilie was superintendent of schools. They came to Manchester in 1918 when Mr. Ottilie became superintendent of the county schools, and Manchester since been their home.

Mrs. Ottilie is survived by the husband; five children— Gertrude, Alice Mae, Agnes, Donald and Robert, all at home; her aged mother, Mrs. Agnes Whyte, of Goldfield; two brothers; John S. Whyte and Kenneth Whyte, also of Goldfield; and five sisters: Mrs. Earl Anderson, Mrs. W. A. McGowan, Mrs. Ray Cunningham and Mrs. Eliot Sevareid, all of Goldfield and Mrs. Gilbert Henry of Nevada, Iowa.

Mrs. Ottilie was in the kindest sense a devoted wife and mother. In the home she reared a family of five children and instilled into their minds a keen sense of appreciation of the finest things in life. She possessed a keen sense of appreciation of the finest in music, literature and art, and for years, while family cares must have weighted heavily upon her shoulders, she found time to enter into full sympathy with the work which Mr. Ottilie and his children are carrying in the name of the Ottilie family orchestra. This good mother joined in the work of the orchestra and there did her part so well. In addition to caring for her household duties Mrs. Ottilie found time for the work of her church. For a long time, she was superintendent of the children’s department of the Presbyterian Sunday school, was a member of the Thirteen club, and until failing health came upon her, was also active in the work of the Parent Teachers’ association. In earlier days she was a member of the Pythian Sisters and Jones Mill grange.

Her long illness aroused the sympathy of the people of this community. She was a woman of rare qualities of mind and heart, and devoted herself unselfishly to the interests of her home. To her husband and children, she leaves the heritage of a life spent in sacrificial service. Reared in a Christian home, she had an abiding faith in the goodness of her Creator throughout her journey in life, and especially during the later months of her life, marked with such intense suffering, did she find comfort and solace in that faith.

Mr. Ottilie and children, her aged mother, brothers and sisters, have the profound sympathy of m any friends in the sorrow that has come to them at this time.
___________________________________________________________

The Manchester Press
Manchester, Iowa
Thursday, April 7, 1938
Page 1, Column 2

Mrs. W. A. Ottilie, fluttering between life and death at her home here for the past month, passed away on Friday evening, April 1, 1938, in the 50th year of her age. Stricken with a mortal illness for which no earthly remedy could be found, she gradually declined in strength but not in courage, meeting her supreme trial with Christian fortitude and welcoming the last great change as a merciful release from protracted suffering. Funeral services were held at the Shelly mortuary Sunday afternoon, the Rev. James McInnis, former pastor of the Presbyterian church, officiating, assisted by the Rev. D. E. Freeman, after which the body was taken to her girlhood home at Goldfield, Iowa, where on Monday another service was held at the home of her mother, Mrs. Agnes Whyte, and burial was made. During the service here Miss Irene Bishop of Coe college sang with much feeling two numbers— “Abide with Me” and “Lead, Kindly Light.”

Hundreds of years ago Johannes Sebastian Bach, great exemplar of music voicing a triumphant faith and the certainty of life beyond, ennobled and softened death in words typical of the hope which sustained Mrs. Ottilie through weary months of pain. They may well have given coherence to her innermost thought as the shadows gathered about her:

Come, soothing death!
Come, blest repose!
Come, lead me, homeward turning,
Weary of earth and yearning;
O come; I wait on thee.
Come now and set me free.
Mine eyelids gently close,
Come, blest repose.