In a message dated 4/26/2008 7:25:19 A.M. Pacific Daylight Time, KTompk7744@aol.com writes: Undated newspaper clipping from the Flora, Indiana, newspaper. About 1923. Toward the end, Great-Grandpa glued another article so that it partly overlaps this obituary. "MRS ELIZABETH ECKERLE DIES TRITLE HOME, SOUTH BEND." "Elizabeth Eckerle, nee Cripe, daughter of Daniel C and Anna Cripe, was born at Pyrmont, Carroll county, Ind., November 15, 1848. There she spent her first twelve years of youth. Then the family removed to near Galveston, Cass county, Indiana, where she grew to young womanhood, and on May 21, 1865, she was united in marriage to Ephriam Perkins. "To this union, seven children were born, two boys, Clarkey and John, and five girls, Laura, Emma, Hettie, Tina and Lydia. The oldest of the girls preceded their father to the spirit world and Hettie and Clarkey passed away within the same year that their father died. The father's death occurred on January 22, 1880, and the youngest of the girls, Lydia, was born seven months later, so was never permitted to share her father's love and caresses. "Life's burdens are heavy at best and even when shared by another, so after four years of struggle to keep the home together, the widowed mother found another companion in Samuel Bechtelheimer, a minister in the Church of the Brethren, and came to live near Flora. To this union was born one child, a daughter, Nellie. On January 27, 1894, the home ties were again broken by the death of the husband and once more the widowed mother faced life's stern realities alone, without a companion. "For twenty-one years she shared life's joys and sorrows with a third companion, Leopold Eckerle, a deacon in the Flora Church of the Brethren, but in 1915 she was to experience another separation and sorrow by the death of father Eckerle. "Sunshine and shadows chased each other ever across the pathway of our departed and beloved sister, but through whatever experience she was made to pass she graced them all with her full and devoted christian fortitude and loyalty to her Lord. "When sixteen years of age she gave her heart to the Savior and with a steadfastness rarely equalled she served and sacrificed for the promotion of the worthiest and highest ideals of the Kingdom. Her place at worship was rarely vacant if she was at all able to be at the services. Her counsels were those of an earnest lover of the whole Gospel which she lived and sought to promote. Her last service was a Love Feast of the Church on Monday evening, before being stricken with paralysis on Friday. Four times in later life she received the anointing with oil and always received abundant blessing from the service. Her place no other can fill, but her example and ideals will live on long after she is absent from our sight. "For the last four years and a half she made her home with her daughter, Lydia Tritle. All that loving children could do was done in the effort to make mother's last days days of pleasantness and long the paths of ______ But despite every care and ___ aid she could not stay and______ Sunday, December 2, 1923, _____ passed to her reward from _________ home of Mr and Mrs Tritle, _____ South Bend, at the ripe age of 75 years and 15 days. "Five sisters, Mrs Ga______ Wapa, Washington; Mrs _________ and Mrs George Neher, Ro_____er; Mrs Hannah Huff of ______den, and Mrs Hester Meek___ this city, and two brothers, Jacob Cripe, of Cass county, ____, Daniel Cripe of Radnor; ____ children, Mrs Charles T______, Mrs Charles Lenon and ________Bechtelheimer, of South Bend______ and John Perkins, of Prin________ Kansas; nine grandchildren, ____step-children and an unusually large group of close friends______. "Funeral services were held____Church of the Brethren in this city at ten o'clock Wednesday morning, conducted by I R Beery, pastor of the Pyrmont Church of the Brethren and the local pastor, Rev H C Ear_______. Interment was made in the Ho___er cemetery in Cass county near Galveston." **************Need a new ride? Check out the largest site for U.S. used car listings at AOL Autos. (http://autos.aol.com/used?NCID=aolcmp00300000002851) ------------------------ Search the Archives at http://archiver.rootsweb.com/th/index/BRETHREN ------------------------ Support Our Sponsoring Agency The Fellowship Of Brethren Genealogists (FOBG) For further information contact Ron McAdams mailto:McAdamsr@hotmail.com ------------------------ ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to BRETHREN-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message Thank you very much for posting this obituary. This person happens to be in my family and it definitely filled in some gaps for me. Again, thank you so much. Stephanie Wilson **************Need a new ride? Check out the largest site for U.S. used car listings at AOL Autos. (http://autos.aol.com/used?NCID=aolcmp00300000002851)