Ionia County MI Archives Obituaries.....Shindorf, Gertrude Theresia (Engemann) 1930
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Belding Banner-News, 13 Mar 1930, page 1

Death Takes Mother From Large Family

Rare Malady Seizes Patient and Summons Comes Unexpectedly.

One of the saddest death ever to be recorded in this community took place on
last Wednesday night, when Mrs. Leo Shindorf, well known Miriam resident, mother
of fourteen children, passed away following a short illness at Blodgett
hospital, at Grand Rapids.

Mrs. Shindorf had been afflicted with an attack of what is called “trench mouth”
and had been treated by local physicians for several weeks.  The disease seemed
to baffle local medical treatment and on Thursday, February 27th, the editor,
who is a brother, took Mr. and Mrs. Shindorf to Grand Rapids, where she was
placed in the hospital for treatment with the statement from specialists that
she would be all right within a few days and that within a week at the most she
would be able to be brought home.

The family made frequent visits to see Mrs. Shindorf at the hospital and on
Tuesday night of last week her mother, brothers and others were to see her.  Mr.
Shindorf and some of the children were with her again on Wednesday noon and her
condition was supposed to be good with the mouth disease clearing nicely. 
Shortly after Mr. Shindorf left the hospital, a change was noted and when he
reached home, in response to a telephone call from the hospital, he immediately
returned to the bedside of his wife.

The editor was notified of our sister’s condition, by the physician in charge
and he left immediately for the hospital, where we learned that the chances were
practically hopeless against either temporary relief or recovery.  Despite the
fact that a specialist gave us no hope, blood, radium and X-Ray specialists were
called in for consultation, but their verdict was the same – hopeless – and that
death could not be warded off for more than three or four days at the most, even
at the sacrifice of blood transfusions and other drastic measures.

The disease was diagnosed as Acute Myclozenous Leukemia, a very rare disease and
one which might not show up again among the patients at the hospital in ten
years.  A more common name for the disease would be “cancer of the blood.”

After doing all that was possible in the way of determining if anything more
could be done for our sister, the editor brought the children of the family back
home and notified relatives of Mrs. Shindorf’s serious condition.  Death came
quietly at about 11:15 o’clock.  With her at the time of her death was Mr.
Shindorf and her brother, George H. Engemann and family, of Kalamazoo who
reached the bedside of the sufferer about twenty minutes before she died.

Undertaker Bruce G. Fales was notified and he went to Grand Rapids and brought
the body home the next day.  It was taken to her home south of the city where
hundreds of friends called to pay their respects and show their esteem for the
good woman who had passed on in the prime of life after having enriched the
community with a contribution of fourteen children thirteen of them still living.

Funeral services were held Saturday morning at nine o’clock from St. Joseph’s
Catholic church in this city, with Rev. Fr. Lawrence L. Dorr officiating and
delivering a beautiful sermon on the life of the deceased.  The church was
crowded to capacity and extra chairs were pressed into service in order to seat
the large number of people attending the services and whose presence gave
manifestation of the fact that it does not necessarily take great wealth or high
social position to hold the love and esteem of the people of the community in
which one lives.  Burial was in the Engemann family lot in the Catholic cemetery
in this city with the six brothers acting as bearers and carrying their sister
to her last resting place beside the body of Tom, a small son, who met death by
burning about two years ago.

Gertrude Theresia Engemann was born in Chicago, on September 16, 1888, the
fourth child in a family of eight born to Mr. and Mrs. Peter Engemann.  She came
to Belding with her parents when but a small child and her entire life was spent
in this city and community.  On November 22, 1910, she was united in marriage to
Leo A. Shindorf, of Miriam, and to this union fourteen children were born,
thirteen of them surviving to mourn the loss of a big hearted, sympathetic
mother.  The children are Eva, Richard, Arnold, Rita, Paul, Madeline, Earl,
Hubert, Bernard, Elizabeth, Sarah, Henry and Beverly.  Other survivors are the
husband, her mother, Mrs. Lena Engemann, of this city, and a sister, Mrs. Nugent
Byrne, of Parnell.  Mrs. Shindorf is the first of the family of eight children
to pass to her eternal reward.

Although he realizes that it is going to be some job for a man to tackle, Mr.
Shindorf has decided that he will keep the family of children together.

The family is very grateful to the great number of people in the community who
have aided them in any way during the time of their great sorrow and they are
very appreciative of all that has been done for them.


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