SUDDEN DEATH OF FRANK MOORE

(photo)

Another Pioneer Passes Away After Short Illness

"O, Thou of soul and sense and breath,
The ever present Giver Unto Thy mighty angel, Death,
All Flesh thou dost deliver:
What most we cherish we resign,
For life and death alike are thine,
Who reignest Lord forever."

Died, at 1:20 p.m., on Saturday, March 11, 1911, at his home in Arlington, Frank Moore, aged 71 years and two months. The funeral was held on Tuesday, March 14, from the Congregational church, interment taking place in the family burial plot in the Morley cemetery, three miles northeast of town, the Rev. E.H. Leshmann officiating. Mr. Moore was bedfast but a few hours. His was no prolonged sickness. He was downtown Thursday noon, and a little after 12 o'clock on that day he met and conversed with the writer, who little thought that that would be the last time we would see him on the streets as he seemed to be in his usual health. That afternoon however, he was taken suddenly sick, and it was soon evident that he was in a dangerous condition. He continued to grow worse after Saturday noon, when he became unconscious and at 1:20 he passed from earth and entered into eternal rest.

He had long been a sufferer from stomach trouble, which, coupled with other complications was the immediate cause of his death, his advanced age and feebleness each conspiring to defeat the hope that springs eternal that he would rally and remain with us for some to come.

The funeral was largely attended, the Oddfellows, of which order he had been a member since the early -'s, being in charge, while every old soldier in town also attended in a body and saw the body of their old comrade in arms laid to rest by gentle hands, the coffin being covered with wreaths of beautiful flowers contributed by relatives of the deceased, the Odd Fellows, Men's Club and the Congregational Sunday school.

All our places of business closed their doors during the funeral services, while the schools closed in order to give both teacher and pupil an opportunity to attend the funeral and pay tribute to one who was always a friend of education, and one was always an enthusiastic booster for the new high school building, and for 6 years was a member of the school board; for three years he served as a moderator, and contributed much toward placing the school on the high place it now occupies.

Frank Moore was born in Chautauqua County, N. Y., Jan 14, 1840. Later in life he moved to Elle County, PA , where he enlisted in Co. A. 16th Penn Vol Cavalry, and served with honor to the end of the war, he being with Grant at the surrender of Lee at Appomattox.

In 1867, he moved with his parents to Washington county, homesteading the farm now owned by Louie Hilgenkamp, a few miles north of town. He worked on the U. P. railroad during the time it was being constructed through Nebraska, but later returned to his home on the farm where he continued to reside until 1884, when the farm was sold and the family moved to Arlington, where Frank has resided but ever since.

He served on the school board for six years, and was moderator for three years of that time, and this during the time the new school building was being erected he acted in the capacity of superintendent of construction.

After the water works were completed, he was placed in charge of the pumping station, which position he continued to hold until his death, and on the day he was stricken with bis fatal illness he attended to his duties there, pumping water for the daily supply of the town.

Mr. Moore was a consistent member of the Congregational Church life, having devoutly filled the position of deacon of that church for over 20 years, and for many years served on the board of Trustees. He was a constant attendant at the services of the church and Sunday school, and it was his boast that, he had never missed service unless absent from home, or unable to attend by reason of sickness.

The life story of Frank Moore is sufficiently striking to justify us in trying to preserve it from oblivion. Born among the hills of Chautauqua county, N. Y., he lived a life as rugged and as stable as were his early surroundings, and no one knows him but to respect the sturdiness of his character, and love the kindness of his nature.

Singularly modest and unassuming, gentle as a woman, with heart responsive as that of a child to the griefs of others, this kindly-eyed man grappled to that heart with a hook of steel the unreserved affection of all who came in intimate contact with him. Never self-assertive in non-essentials, he was as unyielding in the support of the principles in which he believed the foundation of his native hills.

We have known him but for a few years but during those few years he entwined his personality so strongly around our affections that we take his death as a personal loss.

Mr. Moore never married, so he leaves no family behind to mourn his departure, and his remains were placed beside those of his father, mother, & brother and two sisters, who preceded him to their eternal home, while two sisters, Mrs. A. Rice, of Omaha, and Mrs. Helen Vrohmann, of Cleveland, Ohio, survive him.

Frank Moore lived a modest, retiring Christian life, and was universally respected by all our people. His life had been much that the lines of an Unknown poet could very appropriately be applied him, when he said,

"And so beside the silent sea
I wait the muffled oar,
No harm from him can come to me
On ocean or on shore.
"I know not where his islands lift
Their fronded palms in air.
I only know I cannot drift
Beyond His love and care”

~~~Obituary courtesy of Nebraska Washington County Genealogical Society. Newspaper clippings on file at the Public Library, Blair, Nebraska ~~~

FindaGrave # 9104809