Marceline Virginia SMITH

SMITH, BELL, BROWN, ROOSEVELT

Posted By: Sarah Thorson Little (email)
Date: 2/10/2024 at 13:06:57

Marceline Virginia Smith
19 November 1927 ---- 14 January 1945

Miss Marceline V. Smith, 17, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Charles Smith, Eagle Grove, died Sunday morning in Iowa Lutheran hospital in Des Moines. For several months she had been suffering from leukemia, a disease which attacks the blood making organs, causing the presence of an excessive number of white blood corpuscles.

In all 48 blood transfusions were given her, and at times it was thought she was on the road to recovery. However, during the past three weeks, her condition grew rapidly worse, and her life was despaired of for some time.

Letters to the unfortunate girl were received from all over the country. Including one from the president's wife, Mrs. Roosevelt wrote as follows:

"A friend has told me of your illness and how brave and plucky you are. I hope you will keep your cheerful spirit, for that is a great part of the battle against illness."

Miss Smith was stricken with her fatal illness in Des Moines last summer where she was employed in a dime store. She expected to return home last fall to enter high school where she would have been a senior.

Surviving are four brothers and three sisters. They are Mrs. Ralph Bell of Des Moines, Mrs. Frank Brown of Dubuque, and Gloria Smith at home; and four brothers, Koger H. Smith, petty officer second class at Philadelphia, Penn., Merle C. Smith, seaman first class, with the Coast Guard in the Philippines, Virgil Smith, of near Eagle Grove, and Darwin Smith, at home.

Funeral services were held Wednesday afternoon at the Methodist church with the Rev. C. W. Tompkins in charge, assisted by Rev. L. M. Wilkinson. Interment was in Rose Hill cemetery.

EAGLE GROVE EAGLE --- Eagle Grove, Iowa
Thursday, January 18, 1945

Source --- Paul Wilde