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Submitted: 7/13/24 • Approved: 8/19/24 • Last Updated: 8/22/24 • R1538449-G1538449-S3
Wife of W R White
October 13, 1835 - November 23, 1884
*Obituary
Mrs. Mary J. White, wife of Capt. W. R. White, was born in Virginia, Oct. 13, 1834 and died at her home in Prescott, Ark., on the 23rd day of Nov., 1884, of pulmonary hemorrhage. Thus the dark shadows of death have fallen upon another happy home, and we are called to mourn the loss of one of earth's purest characters, and to mingle our tears with those of the bereaved ones that are left behind. In offering this humble tribute to the memory of our deceased friend and sister, we shall not attempt to enumerate her many Christian virtues, or to bestow "Fulsome eulogy" upon her noble exemplary life. She was too well known and loved to require this at any one's hand, however capable. For more than three ong years Mrs. White had been a patient, submissive uncomplaining sufferer. She had lived all these years, as it were, upon the border-land that separates this life from that glorious life beyound, for which she was so well prepared and upon which so ready to enter. No one ever heard from her, though so long an invalid, word of complaint or saw in her face an impatient look; but she was always cheerful, happy, resigned; leaving all things in the hands of God, with implicit faith in his promises. Death, the last enemy, did not take her by surprise. To her it was not an unexpected event. But like the faithful christian that she was, she was willing and ready to live or die. She was constantly watching and awaiting the summons that should release her from the sufferings of earth and admit her to the blissful inheritance of the saints in light. For her, "to live was Christ, to die was gain." Just preceeding her last illness, Mrs. White had patiently and lovingly watched and nursed over two of her little boys through a long and tedious fever, with all that gentleness, care and solicitude which only a mother can feel and exhibit, and just as they were able to sit up and walk about the house, her own frail tenure of life gave way and the fatal attack was precipitated upon her and she passed peacefully away. So that her last days, as indeed her whole life, were spent in loving, faithful ministries to the happiness and comfort of others. It is seldom that we see a lite so beautiful, so symmetrical, so rounded up in all its parts as was that of Mrs. White. In all the relationships of life - as wife, mother, neighbor and friend - she was open, frank and true. In her life and character was beautifully exhibited the highest type of noble christian womanhood. Her religion was not an empty profession, but a living, joyous, abiding reality. It was "known and read of all men", felt and seen by all with whom she came in contact. She not only professed religion but lived it and enjoyed it every day. It made the rough places of life smoothe for her, afforded her comfort in the dark hour of death, and threw a flood of light celestial, into the grave that dispersed all its gloom, but it was in the sacred precincts of her home, that all her splendid virtues shone with clearest ray and divinest beauty. Oh, how the stricken husband and orphan children will miss her here. A light has gone out of their now darkened home, that can only be rekindled in the paradise of God, when the mists of earth have cleared away. How charming is the christian's hope, that comes to us amid these darkest hours, when dearest ties are severed and loved ones are laid in the dark grave, and points us away to that sun bright clime where we shall meet our friends again and live with them forevermore, safe beyond the desolations of earth and the ravages of Death. To this happy place we believe our friend has gone. During the last night of her life, when there had been some improvement in her symptoms, and I was taking leave of her for the night, she held my hand in hers for some moments, and looking up, said; "If I don't see you again, meet me in heaven." When again summoned to her bedside before night had passed, on waking from a short sleep she said; "I have been in heaven or maybe it was a dream." Then again when her mind had begun to wander in slight delirium, she said; "Hadn't we better have prayer?" Soon after she repeated a part of the familiar hymn. "Jesus Lover of My Soul,"etc. How natural for her, and how beautiful, too, the thought that her soul should cling in death to that name which was so dear to her in life - the name of Jesus. Long after she had ceased to recognize earthly friends, and earthly scenes had passed from her view, she was seen to fold her hands across her breast, and a beautiful smile to play over her face, as if bright visions of glory land had broken upon her enraptured sight, or bright convoys of angels had met her at the river to bear her away to the gates of gold and into the city of God. May her husband and children, her friends and neighbors, who knew and loved her so well, imitate her virtues, live the life she lived, and die a peaceful death like hers, and join her at last in the home of the good. Her Physician. (Nevada County Picayune - December 11, 1884)
Contributed on 7/13/24 by debbraszymanski
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Record #: 1538449