Ionia County MI Archives Obituaries.....Jennings, Bina (Gundrum) 1919 ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/mi/mifiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Sandy Heintzelman sheintz@iserv.net December 29, 2010, 9:38 pm Ionia Sentinel, 6 & 8 Jan 1919 Death Takes Former Ionian In Chicago Mrs. L. H. Jennings, Sister of the Late George Gundrum and Mrs. E. E. Gates. Saturday afternoon Harry A. Jennings of this city received a telegram from his uncle, L. H. Jennings, conveying the sad intelligence of the death of his wife, Bina. Mrs. Henry Jennings was a sister of the late George Gundrum and Mrs. E. E. Gates and the last of that family of former well known Ionians. ---- Funeral For Mrs. Jennings Held Today The remains of Mrs. Bina Jennings who died at Chicago Saturday at the age of 66 years, arrived here last night at 7 o’clock and were taken to the Bradley mortuary. The funeral services were held this afternoon at the M. E. church. Rev. R. J. Slee officiated and the bearers were Harry A. Jennings, Oren C. Wright, Fred T. Mason and Chas. M. Stevenson. The interment was in Highland Park cemetery. The remains were brought to Ionia by her husband, L. Henry Jennings, well known former Ionia resident who went to Chicago many years ago. Mrs. Jennings was not the last of the Gundrum family as stated yesterday, but those who survive besides her husband are her brother Godfrey Gundrum of Leroy, Mich., and her sister, Mrs. William Wing of California. Godfrey Gundrum at Leroy is also in very poor health at this time. Mrs. Jennings has for a long time been a great sufferer from nephritis, and her death was caused by three ½ years of most painful illness. Before his remarks Mr. Slee said that Mr. Jennings would give a brief history of her life’s work since she left the city 32 years ago, in the course of which he said that for 23 years Mrs. Jennings was corresponding secretary of the Northwestern branch of the Woman’s Foreign Missionary society and filled that position until her sickness came on. The funeral this afternoon was attended by many of the older residents of the city who remember the deceased most kindly as an Ionia lady greatly esteemed as one of the first pioneer families of the community. Mr. Jennings has not visited Ionia in many years, and while our citizenship is changed wonderfully, he is still meeting old friends of the days when he lived here. ----- Ionia Weekly Sentinel, 23 Jan 1919 Mrs. L. H. Jennings (Bena Gundrum), whose burial was noted Wednesday, was essentially an Ionian, and sister of the late George Gundrum. She was born in Permicens, Germany, Dec. 15, 1852. She and Henry (L. H.) were married Aug. 29, 1876, and they moved to Chicago in 1887. Mrs. Jennings began early the study of the history, literature and art of nations, separately giving one, two or three years to a nation, as she found profitable, a wonderfully retentative memory aided her until she was often referred to by those who knew her as a “walking encyclopedia.” She was called to public work and elected as recording secretary of the north- western branch of the Woman’s Foreign Missionary society in 1892. The branch includes 11 conferences and states of Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana and Michigan. The duties are onerous and her annual reports ran as high as 267 pages, 5,000 copies of which were printed and shipped upon orders to local organizations in the four states. The preparing, proof reading and shipping required much effort and time and attendance upon an annual meeting, five days and 24 other meetings annually, preparing many letters of condolence and reports to four religious periodicals made a large amount of work. Mrs. Jennings filled the office for 23 and one-half years, when failing health forced her to resign. The branch raised as high as $216,000 in a year during the time she was secretary. She served as president of women’s clubs five years, acted as leader of the Birchwood Study class (a noted study class of Chicago), four years, completing the Bayview course and for three years was president of and prepared two annual programs for the Portia club, strictly a study class. The programs were prepared by her by request, the first a study of the artists and art treasures of Florence, Italy, and the second the same of all Italy. At the end of two years the club waived a prohibition by-law and elected her unanimously for a third term, which she refused to accept. For the last four years Mrs. Jennings has been an invalid and her sufferings beyond description. She passed away peacefully Jan. 4, 1919, and is buried in Highland Park cemetery, Ionia, Michigan. File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/mi/ionia/obits/j/jennings10491nob.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.net/mifiles/ File size: 5.0 Kb