Calcasieu County Louisiana Archives Obituaries.....
McClatchey/Silveno, Sarah December 29, 1910

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File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by:
Jane Revord Drover54@aol.com November 2, 2007, 12:23 am

12/31/1910 Southwest LA Genealogical Library
SUCCUMBED TO LONG ILLNESS

  Mrs. Thomas Silveno Stricken While Filling Engagement Here. 

  A very sad death occurred on Wednesday a few minutes after midnight, when 
Mrs. Thomas Silveno passed away after an illness of slow fever, lasting a 
period of over two months. The deceased lady, with her husband and their 13 
year old son, Harold, had been traveling in this country with a mechanical act, 
accompanied with musical features, and had played at the Arcade theater here 
early in November, when the lady became so ill that it was necessary to 
discontinue the performances until she could be nursed back to health.
  
  Many Lake Charles people will perhaps remember seeing the act at the Arcade 
during the week it was put on there.  It attracted considerable attention by 
reason of its uniqueness, the features of the shadowgraph work being original 
with Mr. Silveno. The deceased first took ill after visiting in a hospital in 
Galveston, where an actress friend was ill with malarial fever.  When the 
illness first came on the lady tried to fight it off by persisting in her work, 
but when Lake Charles was reached she was rapidly becoming worse, in fact so 
much so that she was obliged to lie down upon a cot in a dressing room between 
performances at the local theater. When the week's engagement had been closed 
here Mr. Silveno canceled all engagements he had ahead and determined to give 
his wife a through rest before taking up the work again. 

  A room was engaged on Hodges street, where Mr. Silveno nursed and cared for 
his wife a with remarkable devotion.  He hardly ever left the room except to 
purchase necessities and did the cooking of his own food and attended to many 
other duties. He had saved a considerable sum from his previous engagements and 
determined to ask no outside assistance so long as he was financially able to 
care for her himself. 

  Mr. Silveno did not realize that his wife was as ill as it has since proven 
she was, and the physician who attended her had held out every encouragement 
that she would soon be well.  With this thought in mind Mr. Silveno nobly bore 
his burden without asking for aid from even the theatrical association, of 
which he and his wife were members, and the offers from others or the 
profession were likewise declined. 

  Last Friday Mrs. Silveno became much worse and a nurse was secured to attend 
her. The fever was somewhat broken up but left the lady a nervous collapse, 
from which she never recovered continuing to sink lower, and lower until she 
passed away as stated above.  Mr. Silveno had expended practically the last 
dollar he had in endeavoring to bring his wife back to health.

  Here the brotherly and sisterly feeling that extends all through the 
theatrical profession for a distressed member asserted itself. Offers to assist 
in every way came from the Demorest Stock company, from Kelly & Kelly playing 
this week at the Pas-time and from members of the Theatrical Mechanical 
Association With a lodge in Lake Charles. Especially is a high degree of praise 
due Mrs. Ina Lehr, manager of the Pas-Time, for she in rendering assistance in 
every other way possible at her own expense secured the services of a trained 
nurse to attend Mrs. Silvano in the last part of her illness.

  All the expenses of the funeral, a costly and elaborate one, were borne by 
members of the theatrical association and individual members of the profession, 
freely and willingly of their own accord and other expenses incident to the 
death and burial of the deceased taken care of by them.
The touching part of this real life drama is that Mr. and Mrs Silveno bore an 
unusual devotion to each other and in speaking this morning to a reporter the 
bereaved husband often broke down and sobbed when recollection of some 
particular incident of their life together recurred to him. 

Additional Comments:
Mrs. Thomas Silveno was Sarah Hannah McClatchey wife of Thomas McClatchey and 
mother of Harold McClatchey (killed 3 years later in WW1) and my grandmother 
Gertrude McClatchey Vaughn.