Obituaries: John Thomas Warner, 1954, Winn Parish, LA.
Submitted by Greggory E. Davies, 120 Ted Price Lane, Winnfield, LA 71483
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From: November 18, 1954 Winn Parish Enterprise

John Warner, Oldest Native, Dies At 95

Winn Parish's oldest native born resident, John Thomas Warner, died this
morning at 5 a.m. at the age of 95.  He passed away in a local hospital, after
a few days illness.

Funeral services will be Friday at 2 p.m. at Union Church, east of Old Joyce,
with burial in Union Cemetery.  Rev. John Kitchingham of Columbia is scheduled
to conduct the services, with arrangements under direction of Southern Funeral
Home.  

A Masonic burial will be held.

STATE'S OLDEST MASON

Mr. Warner was the oldest Mason in Louisiana, having been awarded a medal for
this several years ago.  He is also the 11th oldest Mason in the United
States.  He was a member of the Eastern Star Lodge No. 151 of Winnfield.

Born in Winn Parish February 4, 1859, in Hudson Community, Mr. Warner was the
son of the late Mr. and Mrs. Jim Warner.  Until the time of his death, he
resided at his home near Hudson, less than three miles from his birthplace.

An invalid for several years prior to his death, Mr. Warner spent many hours
on the porch of his home, in his rocking chair, and "Old Uncle John" was
something of a landmark in the Parish to many folks who traveled the highway
between Winnfield and Hudson.

He was married in 1889 to the late Minerva Jane James and built his home on
its present location in that year.

Recalling much of the early history of Winn Parish, Mr. Warner contributed an
interview article to the Enterprise Centennial edition, published in 1952.  In
this article, Mr. Warner told something of the infamous West Clan days in
Winn, and was alive at the time the Clan was broken up by a group of citizens
grown tired of the group's robbing and killing.

The Zion Hill Church and school was organized before the Civil War, and Mr.
Warner was one of his father's 17 children who attended this school after the
Civil War.

Mr. Warner is survived by three children, including a son, W. Ira Warner, two
daughters, Miss Mary Lou Warner, and Mrs. Rosa Jones, all of Dodson, Route 1;
four granddaughters, Mrs. Hilton Folkes, of Dallas, Texas; Mrs. D. C. Gaar,
Jr., of Baton Rouge, Mrs. Willie Thomas of Sarepta, and Mrs. R. L. Osborn, of
Tyler, Texas; and nine great grandchildren.