MEMOIR OF ELSIE MAY HATCH

Elsie May Hatch was born at Redfield, South Dakota, on May 6th, 1890.  In April 1894 she came with her parents to Manchester, Iowa, and in December of the same year they moved to Edgewood and have resided in that place since.  Her school life began in the Edgewood Public Schools in April 1895, and continued each year until her graduation from the High School in May 1906.  The fall of that year she entered Lenox College at Hopkinton, Iowa.  She studied regular college work, music, and elocution for two years.  At the opening of the school year in September 1908, she entered Cornell College at Mt. Vernon, Iowa, and was graduated from that institution in June 1910 in the regular Liberal Arts Course and in the Normal Course with several credits more than required.  She received a five-year State certificate to teach, and for one year taught in the High School at Bayard, Iowa, declining a re-election.  The following September she took up the work of Assistant Principal of the High School at Manilla, Iowa, where she remained for three years, and during that time made a very large number of friends in that community.  She declined a re-election at Manilla to become principal of the home High School at Edgewood and continued here for three years.  Having successfully passed the civil service examination for government clerk she left home the day school closed in 1918 for Washington, D.C., to serve the government in the Ordnance Department for three months.  her work was so good that she was promoted for efficiency and it was greatly desired by those in charge of the Department that she continue in that service.  but she resigned and came home and began her fourth year's work in the High School.  During her stay in Washington she volunteered for work in Europe under the American Red Cross.  she passed the tests and her call came so that she had to resign after two months of teaching having been notified of her acceptance as a canteen worker after school had begun.  On October 25th, she left for New York to begin what proved to be her last service.  She sailed from that port and landed in Liverpool, England on November 15th.  She went from there to London, thence to South Hampton whence she sailed for France, landing at La Havre.  She arrived in Paris on December 3d and began her work at once.  She was taken ill on December 10th.  Her friends saw that her illness was serious and she was taken to the Red Cross Hospital, where the best medical attendance and careful nursing were given, but to no avail and she passed away on December 20th.  A funeral service was held there and her remains were laid away in the American cemetery in the midst of the graves of the American Soldiers, who like her had given their lives for the stars and stripes and for humanity, there to rest until the tumult and strife of battle was past, and then to be brought back and finally laid away in the bosom of her own beloved country, and where the hands of loved ones can strew her resting place with fair flowers.

Miss Hatch was converted under the pastorate of the Rev. A.D. Stevens and was received into the church on January 5th, 1902 and baptized on July 4th, of that year.  Those who knew her knew that her Christianity was not ostentatious but that she obeyed the dictates of her conscience, and that she was loyal to all her sense of duty.  Hers was a sunny disposition and she made friends wherever she went and always held them.  In the home she was a kind and loving daughter and sister.  When away from home the most tender and affectionate letters came and her presence was sunshine itself.  She seemed to live for friends and loved ones and was always generous toward them and thoughtful particularly of parents and brother.  That a great loss came to the home in her death is being realized anew today - a loss that can only be borne through the help of God and the comfort of Jesus Christ.

She had an intellect of a high order and a large working capacity.  She excelled in her work and whatever she did it was done to the best of her ability.  This with her willingness to help in any good cause when called upon and her keen appreciation of people and especially young people drew to her a host of friends.  Those who were privileged to be under her care as a teacher rendered her an homage that amounted to most cases to a real affection.  It will be a long time before this community will cease to miss Elsie May Hatch.

Her patriotism was genuine.  It was a soldierly devotion that led her to offer herself for Red Cross work and to lay down her life for her country; and she is entitled and has received all the honors bestowed upon our soldier dead.

"He has not died who leaves no heart behind him To mourn in aching silence at his bier; The sleep of death is like a crown of glory To those who spend their lives in service here. True life is good applied and evil conquered; True love is virtue cherished, faith sustained, True death, the passing of a fearless spirit, The culmination of a Faith attained."

 WORDS OF APPRECIATION

As best we can we desire to express our thanks to all friends, Orders, Churches and Sunday School, who so kindly gave sympathy, beautiful flowers and aid in the burial of our daughter and sister.  In doing so we feel that words cannot express the gratitude we feel.

Mr. and Mrs. A.P. Hatch

Mr. and Mrs. F H. Hatch