Person:Mary Coe (19)

Obituary Transcription:

The fore part of last week the people of Lisbon were thrown under a cloud of sorrow when intelligence was received that Mrs. Kettering had passed from this world Sunday night, March 1st, 1914, in Tucson, Arizona, where she had gone to spend the winter with her daughter Sarah. She was the wife of Solomon Kettering, who for many years was an active and influential citizen and business man of Lisbon, and whose decease occurred Feb. 12th, 1906. She was born in Gates (stet) Co., New York, Jan. 24th, 1847, and was the daughter of John D. and Caroline Ackerson Coe. Her family moved to Ohio and then to Iowa when Mrs. Kettering was but a child, and her girlhood life was spent on a farm near Tipton.

Her father answered the call of his country and enlisted in the Union Army at the beginning of the Civil War, giving up his life as a sacrifice for his country in October, 1863. The widowed mother, shortly after, moved to Lisbon with her family, and here was spent the remaining years of the life of the deceased.

On Dec. 10th, 1871, she was married to Solomon Kettering, who at that time was a prospering young business man. The marriage proved most happy; the making of a home was a delight, and the interests of husband and wife were centered on those things which made for the best in home and church and community.

The joy of the home and the interests of life were increased by the advent of six children, two of whom, Louis and Mrs. Ella Kettering Johnson, preceeded (stet) their mother from this world.

The father’s time being given largely to his business and the demands of public interest, it fell to the mother to assume the care and culture of her growing family. For these she did not spare herself, but poured into their lives the richest treasures of a mother’s heart and devotion. During these years of parental care and responsibility there developed in her all those graces of Christian womanly character that made her beloved as wife, mother and friend, and which so enriched her life in later years. Her activities, outside of her home, were confined largely to her church of which she had been a member since childhood. She was one of the charter members of the Women’s Foreign Missionary Society, and an active member of the Ladies’ Aid Society. When the question of building the present Methodist church was under consideration, and subscriptions were being solicited, Solomon Kettering and his wife showed their devotion and interest by a generous contribution which, with like subscriptions from other members, made possible the erection of the beautiful structure which stands as a monument to the faith and sacrifice of the members of sixteen years ago.

The health of the deceased, never vigorous, began to fail three years ago. This past three winters were spent in Tucson, Arizona, with the hope that the climate might aid in her recovery. But the climate and the best medical skill, with careful nursing, could not recover the lost health. She continued to grow weaker and almost without warning her spirit took its flight to the heavenly world.

The four children remaining to mourn the loss of this devoted mother are Sarah Ernest and Willard, of Lisbon, and Ralph, of Seattle, Washington. Also, two brothers and one sister share with the children in this loss. They are Clarence Coe, of Cresent, Iowa; Frank Coe, of California, and Mrs. Adeline Akerly, of Early, Iowa. Five grandchildren also survive her.

A large number of sympathetic friends and neighbors gathered in the home Friday afternoon, March 6th, to take part in the funeral services which were conducted by Rev. James Ballz, pastor of the M.E. church, assisted by Rev. B.C. Barnes, a former pastor of the family. Beautiful and appropriate music was sung by the choir, and J.D. Fouse, of Lisbon, and Miss Neva Smith of Iowa City sang with tender effect two special numbers. At the close of the services the body was conveyed to the Lisbon cemetery and there laid to rest until the morning of the resurrection when the body of earth shall take the form of the heavenly and the mortal shall be crowned with immortality.