Article from unknown sources with handwritten date of 1959. Extracted from the newspaper article collection started in 1879 by Mrs. Nannie Brown of Madison, Missouri. Miss Edith Jo Ess, 16, Drowned In Farm Lake Tuesday "Miss Edith Jo Ess, 16, high school junior and daughter of Mr. and Mrs. George Ess of Paris, drowned Tuesday evening around 7:00 o'clock in a small lake on the farm west of Stoutsville formerly owned for several years by Rev. R.M. Lemly, then pastor of the Paris Presbyterian Church. The lake is now the property of the Walsh Refractories of Farber and St. Louis. With Miss Ess at the time were her brother, John Ess, 13, and two of his friends, Bobby Brown, 15, son of Mrs. and Mrs. Claud Brown of Paris, and Gale Bierly, 15, son of Mr. and Mrs. Hugh Bierly of Paris. Miss Ess was the only one in the party licensed to drive and had taken the group to the lake for a swim. They had just arrived when the drowning occurred, according to Bobby Brown. Brown said that Miss Ess, who swam very little, had an inner tube with her, and had just walked into the water in wading depths when the boys went to another part of the little lake. When they looked back they saw the tube floating but could not see Miss Ess. Frightened and unable to drive back to Paris, the boys ran to the nearby Highway 24, hailed a passing transport truck and helps was brought from Paris. Surviving are her parents, Mr. and Mrs. George Ess, a brother, John, her maternal grandmother, Mrs. Daniel Krembs, all of the home; and her paternal grandparents, Mr. and Mrs. Lloyd Ess of Madison. Funeral services are being held Thursday afternoon at 2 o'clock at the Paris Christian Church with the Rev. Paul Rathbun, officiating. Burial will be in Walnut Grove Cemetery." Copyright notice: All transcriptions in this email are copyrighted by their creator. They may not be reproduced on another site or on any printed or recorded media, CD, etc. without specific written permission from Kathleen Wilham. Although public information is not in and of itself copyrightable, the format in which it is presented, transcriptions, notes & comments, etc. is. It is however quite permissible to print or save the files to a personal computer for personal use only. Permission is granted to public libraries, and genealogical and historical societies to print and bind for the use of their patrons. Kathleen Wilham 2 Sharon Drive Shelbina, MO. 63468-1562