Funkhouser Memorial
Albert Craig Funkhouser
March 23, 1893 - June 15, 1919
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Record of Meeting of the Vanderburgh County Bar
Held on June 18, 1919, Upon the Death of Lt. Albert C. Funkhouser
Record of Meeting of the Vanderburgh County Bar, Held on
June 18, 1919, Upon the Death of Lt. Albert C. Funkhouser
The Bar being assembled, upon motion of Mr. Walton M.
Wheeler, duly seconded and carried, Judge Robert J. Tracewell
was elected chairman of the meeting.
Judge Tracewell spoke as follows:
"Gentlemen of the Bar--I suppose you all know the very
sad circumstance that has called us together this afternoon?
I have no language adequate to express my feelings upon this
occasion. To be sure, it is our duty to take catastrophes of this
kind as we find them. The Book teaches us that these things
are ordered all for the best, but I confess that I can't see it.
Why a young man should be stricken down is beyond my ken
and comprehension. Why the pangs that these parents should
have to undergo, is beyond my comprehension. They have our
most extreme sympathy, I know, of every member of this Bar
and I only await now your desires and ask your further wishes
in this meeting, and suggest that it probably would be proper
to have a secretary appointed."
Whereupon on motion of Judge Lockyear, duly seconded
and carried, Mr. Charles F. Harman was appointed secretary of
the meeting.
The Chairman - "What is the further pleasure of the
body?"
Judge Lockyear - "I move you that a committee of five be
appointed by the chair to draft proper resolutions on this
occasion."
Which motion, having been duly seconded, was adopted, and
the chair appointed as committee Mr. Frank C. Gore, Judge
E. Q. Lockyear, Mr. Arthur C. Stone and Mr. Val Nolan.
The Chairman - "Gentlemen: While the committee is in
performance of their duties, any remarks that any person has to
make on this occasion, I suppose, would be proper now."
Mr. Walton M. Wheeler:
"Mr. Chairman, I presume that we sit in silence because we
feel the sadness of the occasion and that that is the attitude
more in keeping. As I stand before such a tragedy of life as
this presents to us, I feel that we all should stand mute; and
I take it that we, most of us, are thinking of the living rather
than the dead, because of the ravages that have come into this
home, and it is in the face of that that we would say or do,
if possible, something to assuage the double grief that these
people have sustained. It impresses us with the futility of
words and the feebleness of humanity. How impossible it is
for us apparently to do anything or say anything to make up
the balance of this very unequal equation."
"I first knew this young man when he was a child, shortly
after his father came to Evansville. I got acquainted with him,
and became acquainted with the two chubby, round-faced,
black-eyed boys with whom he was so frequently to be seen. I
remember it more clearly, probably, because much of the time
I had similar companions, except mine were little girls, and
because of that similarity between our families, we probably
talked these matters over more frequently than otherwise we
would. And because of that fact, I find myself unable to think
much of anything else except of that father and of that mother.
It is to be hoped that with the lapse of days and months, they
may be able to be removed somewhat from the poignancy of
their personal grief and be able to be glorified by the fine
tribute which their sons have given, and be, in a measure,
uplifted by the devotion of the fine sacrifice that they have made
and feel the compensation which must come from some other
than and higher than any human agency."
Mr. Thomas W. Lindsey:
"Mr. Chairman and Gentlemen, I knew young Funkhouser,
I expect, better than most of the members of the Bar - probably
longer. He may be a little closer, because of the fact that
he was associated a good deal of the time in school days with
my older boys. I feel that on occasions of this kind nothing can
be said that changes in the slightest degree the condition of the
dead; and at the same time, as Judge Wheeler has said, no
human word or human effort can in the slightest degree console
the living. And yet, we feel like saying something. That a
man living should pass out of existence without ever having
performed any service or attracted any notice that would call
for eulogies of some kind would be most regretful, and I can
hardly conceive how any man that lived to be the age of young
Funkhouser was without having done something that would call
forth eulogies on occasions of this kind. As I view it, this man's
life is far greater in achievement than that of any member of
this Bar. I knew young Funkhouser for the last six years.
I saw him when he was in school; I saw him on the football team;
I saw him in the athletics; I saw him later not only in athletics
but in his school work as the schoolboy displays his athletics;
and as he fishes and hunts, and as he plays, so does he work
when he does work, and the young man was always at the front.
Young Funkhouser was energetic, always ready to do his part,
whether he was in a football game or in school. He always
carried the banner and never permitted it to trail in the dust.
After he had left his school days and undertaken the profession
we have all chosen to follow, while it is true he was not in
the profession long enough before his departure for the front
to demonstrate what was in him, yet we saw him in the beginners'
class, and from what we know of him, we believe that if he
had been permitted to live and return to his profession
that he would have been a leader in his profession. Answering
his country's call, he not only goes to the front but crosses the
sea and fights the battles of those in whom he had very little
personal interest, simply for the patriotism that was in his
bosom. Having gone through the battles that he did across the
sea, having seen his brother fall by his side, no doubt he felt
with great emotion of the day when he would return to his
native land with all the honors that a soldier can bring back
with him and tell of the trying days he had seen and of the
splendid sacrifices that he and his brother had made. And after
all that he had passed through, apparently all the danger, for
peace had been virtually declared and proclaimed, and after the
war was over and peace and harmony prevailed everywhere, as
I understand, he was on his way home when he was stricken
with the disease that resulted in his death before he could reach
home. That brings me then to the thought, my friends, that
this Bar has been visited in the last few years most frequently
by the grim monster Death, and we naturally wonder what
member is coming next, and we naturally wonder, in fact, when
we gather about this table and before this bench and bar for
the purpose of passing resolutions and eulogizing the life of
the departed brother, whether we do it as a mere matter of form,
or whether we feel in our hearts the sympathy that we should
feel for those that are still living, and mourn and grieve the
loss of the dead. As stated, death is a strange condition. What
is after life, no human knows. What state we assume after
death is a mere matter of conjecture. I don't know, and you
don't know, and we never will know until after we have met
death, but death is a strange condition. It is a thing that all
have to meet. The living must die, and the living must deal
with it, and while we are unable to say in words anything that
will cheer those bereaved, still it is fitting for the living
to know that we are gathered at this time to add what little
we can to the eulogies of the dead, and so far as young
Funkhouser is concerned, he is beyond the reach of human power
to add anything to the glory that he has already achieved. His
soul rests with the God who gave it, and he has played his part
well; and may it be said that every member of this Bar may play
his part as well and die as gloriously as has young Funkhouser.
Judge F. M. Hostetter:
Mr. Chairman, On behalf of the committee on resolutions, I
desire to report as follows:
(Reads resolutions reported by committee.)
Judge Hostetter further spoke: "I know, Mr. Chairman, that both
you and I were acquainted with Albert W. and Arthur F. Funkhouser
for many years before either of them came to Evansville. You have
known them since childhood, and I have known them almost that long.
I have seen their struggles and their successes. With Albert W.
Funkhouser's wife I went to school thirty-nine years ago. I know
the family well, and I have known them more or less intimately
many years, but I do not feel in a mood to attempt to say things
that come to my mind, and I content myself with moving, on behalf
of this committee, the adoption of this resolution."
Judge J. E. Williamson:
"Mr. Chairman, The chairman's remarks in taking the chair, have
impressed me, not only today, but the same thought has followed
me through life. That is, the mystery of Providence in taking the
life of a human being. That means, that a human being falls by the
decree of Providence, which is another name for Almighty God, and
so that we all, as we pass away are decreed to go that way. That
is true or it is not true, and I don't believe that it is true.
I cannot bring myself to believe from the evidence of Nature, from
our observation, from our acquaintance with ourselves, from
immortality itself, from our impressions of the Divine Character,
that any such can be true. I repel it, as a Christian man - a very
poor Christian, too, I admit, but nevertheless, I struggle along
as best I can, very frequently in the dark, so dark you can't see
the daylight. Now then, what is there that differs insofar as life
is concerned in an animal, whether we call him man or beast? We
know that flesh and blood must be sustained in everything that
breathes, governed by the same general principles of life. If I
believed that God, whom I revere, deliberately took the life of young
Funkhouser in the way that he did, it would give me thought as to
whether such a God is worthy of being followed. Isn't it true that
the laws which govern and sustain physical life are alike in all
things? Isn't it true that death is simply the result of these
laws working out in their alchemy their subtle forces when the
disease that sets aside the laws that govern life gets in its
work, and that is all there is of it? I remember hearing Henry
Ward Beecher, about thirty years ago, in one of his lectures on
'The Wastes of Society,' dealing with this question. Here is a
baby in a cradle. The mother says to the father before he leaves
the house, 'You better look at the baby; I believe the baby is
sick.' So he did, and he said to his wife, The baby is certainly
not very well; you had better watch him today, and if he does not
seem to get along all right, call in the doctor. The father went
home early that night; the baby's cheeks were red with fever, and
he says, 'Call the doctor.' The doctor came in and says 'The child
is not suffering; his stomach is upset and he will be all right
tomorrow.' Morning came, and the child was worse. The father didn't
go to work that day, and before night the baby was dead. Crape was
on the door, the friends were invited and came to the funeral;
the preacher came, and he said, 'The Lord gave, and the Lord hath
taken away; blessed be the Name of the Lord.' And it was said
'Had this child sinned or his parents, that his death comes this
way?' Now, Beecher says, 'You go down in the cellar and you will
find rotten onions and rotten potatoes and other causes that plant
the disease germ that that child breathes and goes into its body.
That is what killed the baby and God had nothing to do with it.'
That is my belief, and I find great consolation in that belief.
If we do not believe that way, what are we calling doctors for?
Let us reason out of it to take care of our health, keep disease
away from our blood, and not charge God with something He is not
guilty of. And so, when I pass away if I should be deemed worthy
of a meeting of my brethren with whom I have associated all my
life, do not say, 'God did it.' I want to die by the laws of
Nature; not by the decree of a tyrant. That is some consolation
to me.
"Now, we come to deal with this particular death. We all love
these Funkhouser boys; they are friends of all of us, and if they
have any enemies I don't know it, and I don't believe that any of
us have very many when he comes to count them. Away down in our
hearts, I don't believe we have many enemies. But how shall we
look upon this death. I was thinking of that ship that had the
honor of bringing that sick soldier back home. How it must cheer
his father and mother now, to know that he died in his native land;
to know that he died in 'Old Virginia.' That is a good place for a
man to live - it is not a bad place for a man to die. Well now, I
have two boys, one of them got into the Navy, but the armistice
came before he sailed; the other had a bad eye and was rejected.
So neither of my boys got into the service further than I have
said. But how does a father feel when his boys go into the service?
I saw one war that was war sure enough, in the 60's, when my
brothers, older than myself, were in the service. I stood on my
father's front porch one morning and heard the clatter of hoofs
and the 'pop, pop, pop' of the gun. I knew the soldiers were
coming. I knew the cavalry was on the go, but I didn't know that
my brother was being pursued by the enemy and shot at in front of
my father's house. He got away that time, but he didn't come home.
We live through these sad scenes and come out stronger. Thinking of
these Funkhousers, all of them, I thought, 'How can a human heart
endure it?' And yet, we do endure. We look back over it when it has
gone, and wonder ourselves how it was possible, and yet we come out
of the fire tried by it. How then, that home, cheered as it was when
the young man's feet turned to the ship and the ship turned to the
golden shores of the voyage, a heart beating with the anticipation
of a home-coming, and he comes not again? It can't be cured, only
endured. It must be borne because it has to be, and we simply get
used to our burden and fit it to our back so that it becomes the
least oppressive and the more bearable. Closed is the volume of the
book of his brief years. We shall not see him more.
'He recks not now of men or things.
He heeds not now the tale they tell.
He slumbers well.'
Judge E. Q. Lockyear:
"I sometimes feel, Mr. Chairman, that I speak when others ought
to have the opportunity, but this occasion I could not pass by
and do myself honor, or this young man or his parents justice
without saying a word. I thought this morning that this war has
brought out but two pieces of literature that have burned into
the hearts and soul and minds of the American people. One is
the verses entitled 'Flanders Field' ('In Flanders Field the
poppies grow'). That little piece of poetry has burned into
our hearts. There is another that has moved us very strongly.
The other one that comes closest to our hearts is the one
written by William Hershel, of Indianapolis, called 'The Service
Flag.' I read that little poem at a Sunday School one Sunday
lust after it was written, and someone said that thc author at
one time lived in Evansville, und I wrote him and asked if that
was true, and he said, 'Yes, I lived there with mother and father.
Father used to work at the Southern shops.' He said, 'My good old
Scotch mother is buried in Oak Hill Cemtery and I have fond
remembrances of Evansville and am thankful that someone in
Evansville has appreciated my little poem.' That little poem
would run through my mind as I walked up and down the streets
during this war, and especially when I walked out Washington
Avenue and came by the Funkhouser home and saw the two stars
in the little service flag.
"'Dear little flag in the window there,
Hung with a tear and a mother's prayer,
Child of Old Glory born of a star.'
John W. Spencer, Jr.:
"Mr. Chairman and Gentlemen of the Bar, I will not presume very
much upon your time, but as a young man it is only right that
I should say a few words in this meeting. He and I were friends,
and have been for years. We entered high school at the same time,
went through and went up to school together. We were admitted to
the bar within a few weeks of each other, and started in the
practice together. I have known him for a long time, and his
greatest quality and chief characteristic, as I remember it, was
his faculty for making friends. He could make friends more easily
and keep them longer and closer than any man I ever knew. As
Mr. Wheeler remarked, this is such a tragedy words are feeble, and
I cannot say much. Albert Funkhouser answered the call of duty and
gave up his life for it. Another blue star has turned to gold."
Mr. Val F. Nolan:
"Mr. Chairman, I feel it is my duty to rise on this occasion.
I never have done so before since I have been at this Bar, and
I would rather not today, because I do not feel in a mood to speak;
but I knew him so well. I feel that Judge Lockyear expressed
this feeling that it is my duty to say just a word. My earliest
recollection of Al Funkhouser was in September of 1898, I think,
twenty-one years ago. His father took him to Campbell School,
and my father took me, and we sat in the same seat. We completed
the work there together and went to high school together. He went
to DePauw University and I to the State University, but even the
few miles that separated us at that time did not interfere with our
seeing much of each other. Often he came to Bloomington and I often
went to Greencastle. He was admitted to the bar in December,
1914 and I was admitted to the bar in that month and year.
I recall that I saw him a year ago last Christmas and we had
dinner together. He was home on a furlough from Camp Bowie, Tex.
He was happy and anxious to go overseas. His greatest regret
was that he was not over at that time. I have been asked to be
a pallbearer tomorrow morning. I have lost a beloved friend,
a companion. This Bar has lost a promising member. His family,
of course, has sustained the greatest loss. This community has
lost a worthy citizen, and our Army, our Nation, has lost a
real soldier."
Mr. Henry T. Hardie:
"Mr. Chairman, I am not able to speak much on this occasion,
for the reason that I didn't know Mr. Funkhouser very long.
I came here in the Fall of 1914, in September, and he and I were
admitted to the bar about the same time, within a month or so
of each other. From that time on I met him on different
occasions and talked with him, not so much on business matters,
for the reason that we were both young in the practice - in fact,
I am yet - and didn't have much business. Our conversations were
those of good fellows, young members of the bar, socially.
I learned to like him, and I am sure had he been spared to associate
again in the practice of law I would have found a good friend in
him socially and in the practice. Whatever we might say would not,
of course, assist the parents in bearing their burdens in this
grief, except that they might have the satisfaction of knowing
that their son, Albert, had friends among the Bar, not only among
the older men who were familiar and well acquainted with his father
and his uncle, but among the young men who knew him personally.
I am sure he would have followed in the footsteps of his father and
his uncle and would have made a successful lawyer and would have
been a good companion in the practice and otherwise with the young
fellows of this Bar."
Judge Philip C. Gould:
"Mr. Chairman, The death of Albert Funkhouser has been a staggering
blow to the heart of the city of Evansville. Al Funkhouser had
a wonderful disposition. Among his boy friends and among his
girl friends, they all loved him and idolized him. I have watched
him, time and time again. Lots of times, wearied and worn with the
pressure of a day's work, I would come upon young Albert, and the
sight of him refreshed me. It seemed like that to be with him
just a moment or two drove away all the cares and anxieties of
the day. He had a charming disposition; that is attested by the
fact that he ran on the legislative ticket ahead of the rest of
the Republican ticket. Some time in January I was at Indianapolis.
His father happened to be there, and I was talking to him about
his boys, and I knew the heartaches that he was suffering because
of the death of Paul. In the course of that conversation I asked
him about when Albert would be home. He said that he thought he
would be home some time in July. I said to his father, 'Have you
given any thought as to what will he the immediate future of Al
when he returns?' He said. 'No, only that he will come into the
office and practice law.' I suggested to him that while I had no
authority to make this suggestion, I was interested in the boy.
I appreciated when Paul had sacrificed and I appreciated what
Albert had done, and I appreciated what the family had stood
for in this crisis of affairs, and if the suggestion meets with
your approval I will lend whatever I possess of influence to
try procure for Albert the appointment of deputy prosecuting
attorney under Prosecuting Attorney George D. Heilman. The
suggestion had never come home to his father. He thought of it
a minute and said, 'I will write Albert about it and see what
he thinks about it.' A few weeks ago, at Fourth and Sycamore
Streets, he called me to one side and said, 'I wrote to Albert
about the deputy prosecutorship and he has written back to me
that he would be glad to accept the appointment,' and I know,
gentlemen, I know that his father and young Albert felt in their
hearts that he would be the next deputy prosecutor of Vanderburgh
County, and I know what happiness it brought to his father, and I
know what a glorious opportunity that place would have been to
a boy who came back from across seas with such an honorable record.
"Gentlemen, These meetings are not so much a tribute to the
dead as to the immediate members of the family of the dead; but
to sit here this afternoon and hear these men pour out the thoughts
that gush from their hearts make all of us better men, and I feel
that on an occasion of this kind we should not hesitate to take
the floor and give expressipn to those thoughts that are prompted
by the sympathies of our hearts."
Source:
Funkhouser Memorial
c. 1920
pp. 8-17
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