Obit: Dicks, James E. (1876 - 1955)

Contact: Stan

Email: stan@wiclarkcountyhistory.org

Surnames: Dicks, Venet, Coon, Wenzel, Colby, Schroeder

----Source: OWEN ENTERPRISE (Owen, Clark County, Wis.) 12/29/1955

Dicks, James E. (5 FEB 1876 - 23 DEC 1955)

James Edward Dicks, son of Charlie Dicks and his wife Mary (nee Coon), was born at North Haven, Conn., on Feb. 5, 1876.  He was baptized in a Congregational Church at Mount Carmel, Conn., in 1898.  Soon thereafter he moved to Illinois, where he farmed until 1910, in which year he moved to Withee (Clark Co.), Wis., and acquired a farm northwest of Withee, on which he lived the rest of his life.  He was married in 1912 to Mrs. Rosanna Venet, nee Wenzel, who had one daughter by her first marriage.  In 1925 the first Mrs. Dicks passed away.  He married Mrs. Roswell Colby, nee Elsie Schroeder, who was the mother of one son, Frederick Roswell.  The young stepson was legally adopted as his own son and received also the family name of Dicks.  The departed joined St. John’s Lutheran Church, Withee, on July 30, 1944, by rite of confirmation.  He was always a faithful church member who diligently attended divine worship and was glad to be of service to the Lord.

On the morning of Thursday, Dec. 22, he suffered a heart attack, and in spite of great pain in his chest and left arm, he managed to get into his car and drive to his neighbors, as his wife, also physically impaired, was less able to go than he himself.  They took him to the Victory Memorial Hospital in Stanley.  He fell into a coma late Thursday evening from which he never recovered.  He fell peacefully asleep in Jesus Friday forenoon, Dec. 23, 1955, at 10:30 o’clock.  He attained the age of 79 years, 10 months and 18 days.

The departed is mourned by his widow, one son, Frederick Roswell Dicks, and his wife, three grandchildren, one brother, John Dicks of Dyer, Tenn., and two half-brothers, Herbert and Alfred Dicks of Mt. Carmel, Conn.  Four sisters and two brothers had preceded him into eternity.  He came from Whitneyville, the name of the township in which Eli Whitney, the inventor of the cotton gin, was born.

Funeral services were held at St. John’s Lutheran Church, Withee, Tuesday afternoon, Dec. 27, at 2:00 o’clock.  Pastor Theo Predoehl preached a sermon on "Simeon’s Swn Song: Lord, Now Lettest Thou Try Servant Depart in Peace," Luke 2: 29 - 32.  The church choir sang: "Our God, Our Help in Ages Past" and "Nearer My God to Thee."  Pallbearers were Bill Cwiniarski, Everett Johnson, Edmund Lentz, Henry Rohland, Earl Rusch, and Wallace Wood.  The Hoeper and Kraut Funeral Home was in charge of arrangements.  Interment followed in Riverside Cemetery.