Sarah Catherine Freeby Wheelock

Walnut Leader, Friday, April 11, 1913, page 1, column 3&4

Death of Mrs. L.A. Wheelock

The funeral services of the late Mrs. Luther A. Wheelock were held last week Friday afternoon at 1 o’clock at the family residence in Hume township northwest of Tampico. There was a very large number of friends present although the day was very stormy. The funeral sermon was preached by Rev. H.A. Snyder, pastor of the Tampico Methodist church and he was assisted in the services by Rev. James Potter of Rock Falls. Appropriate selections were sung by Mesdames Roy McKenzie and Snyder. The pall bearers were old neighbors of the deceased: Fred Van DeMark, John Wetzel, H. Chapin, A.P. Hansen, Earl Cleveland and Matt Roche. Interment was in the Tampico cemetery. There were a number of beautiful floral tributes among them being pieces from the Tampico Royal Neighbors and from the Tampico Methodist Ladies Aid Society. Out of town relatives who attended the funeral were: Mr. and Mrs. Lew Lewis and John Freeby of Walnut; Mrs. Emma Stier of Chicago, a sister; Frank Freeky a brother, Wm. Freeby of Sibley, Iowa, a brother; Mrs. Lou Majors and Paul Majors of Chicago, Thomas McMillan of Davenport and Miss Minnie Ristow of Mt. Vernon, Iowa.

Sarah Catherine Freeby was born at East Payne, Carbon Co., Pa., Aug. 29, 1856. While yet a small girl she came with her parents to Como, Ill. Here they lived about seven years, then moved to Tampico township so that the children might have better educational advantages. The girl grew to be a young woman of eighteen, and on August 12, 1874, she was married to Luther A. Wheelock, and for nearly thirty-nine years they shared the joys and comforts as well as the sorrows of life. Two children came to bless and enrich the home life: Chas. W. and Cecil L. Wheelock.

Mrs. Wheelock united with the Methodist Episcopal church in 1890, and has always been a true, devoted Christian woman. For many years she taught a Sunday School class in South Hume, seeing them grow up to be young men and women. Besides her husband and two sons, those left to mourn her sad passing away, are her aged father, John Freeby of Walnut, four brothers and four sisters: Frank Freeby of Window, Minn., Mary Simonds of Minneapolis, Minn., Lucy Winstead of Wichita, Kas., Wm. Freeby of Sibley, Ia., Chas. Freeby of Sterling, Ill., Fred Freeby of Walnut, Ill., Emma Stier of Chicago and Susie Lewis of Walnut.

Mrs. Wheelock was a woman devoted to her home and its interests. She gathered in her home and its interests. She gathered in her personality all the grace of true womanhood. The secret of her beautiful, helpful, influence was her inner life, fed by a study of God’s Word. – Tampico Tornado