Beckham County, OK - Obits: W. A. Talley, 1925
Tuesday, 27 January 2009
Submitted by: delma25@pldi.net (Delma Tindell)

 ************************************************
 Copyright. All rights reserved.
 http://www.rootsweb.com/~usgenweb/copyright.htm
 ************************************************

TALLEY, W. A.
(1 Oct 1925, Elk City News Democrat, Elk City, Beckham Co, OK:)
Death Claimed W. A. Talley As He Slept Tuesday Night
Death Supposed to Have Resulted from Natural Causes as No Evidence of Foul
Play or Suicide.
W. A. Talley, aged about 45 years, a salesman in the men's furnishings
department of the Diamond C of this city, was found dead in his bed at the
Clark Rooming house about 8 o'clock Wednesday morning, death supposed to
have resulted from heart failure.
Mr. Talley put in the day at the Diamond C in the usual way and was
seemingly in good spirits.  He talked with several during the day and Rev.
C. G. Gettys, pastor of the First M. E. Church says he was in unusually
optimistic mood.
He has made his home at the Clark Rooms ever since coming to Elk City and
had spent the evening at the house.  About 10 o'clock he went to his room
and this was the last time he was seen alive.
Other roomers coming in between 11 and 12 o'clock noticed the light
burning in his room but did not disturb him.
When he failed to come down to breakfast at the usual time he was called,
and when he did not respond Miss Opal Bowen looked over the transom and
saw instantly that he was dead.  Physicians and officers were summoned and
entrance made to the room.  It was the opinion of the physicians and
undertakers that he had been dead several hours when found.
He had attired himself for the night and evidently went to bed with his
glasses on as these were found near him. He was lying diagonally across
the bed with his arms folded and his eyes closed when found.
That his eyes were closed indicated that he had died while asleep, and
that there was no evidence of a struggle to mean that there was little or
no evidence of suicide.
Mr. Talley came to Elk City, June 8th and went to work for the Diamond C,
coming from Ringling, Oklahoma, where he had been with C. R. Harris for
several years.  During the time he was here he made a lot of friends, and
his sudden death was a terrible shock.  He had the appearance of perfect
health and was a hard worker.  The patrons of the store thought a great
deal of Mr. Talley as well as the management and employees of the store,
and his fellow boarders at the Clark rooms speak highly of him.
He was a member of the Masonic lodge and members were alert Wednesday
morning looking after the body and communicating with relatives.
Mrs. Talley and a daughter, Charlotte, live at Campbell, Missouri; a
married daughter, Mrs. Roy Scott lives at Ardmore, Oklahoma, and a son
Charles lives in St. Louis.  These were notified and after Grubitz & Son
had prepared the body for shipment it was sent to Campbell, Missouri, for
interment.  Mrs. Scott met the body at Oklahoma City.
The Masonic Lodge held services at the Grubitz Undertaking Parlor Thursday
morning, assisted by Rev. Mitchell of the First Baptist Church.  The pall
bearers were Masons and the Masonic guard of honor marched with the body
to the train.
The Diamond C remained closed until after the train departed in honor of
the deceased.
(8 Oct 1925, Elk City News Democrat, Elk City, Beckham Co, OK):
(Campbell, Mo., paper)
W. A. Talley died suddenly at Elk City, Okla., Wednesday September 30,
1925.  His family here was notified by telephone message and instructions
were given for the body to be prepared for shipment home.  The remains
were accompanied to Campbell by the eldest daughter, Mrs. Roy Scott, who
lives at Ardmore, Okla., arriving here at 11 o'clock this morning.  A
large number of relatives and friends met the train and accompanied the
casket to the family residence in Bray Addition, from which funeral
services were held at 2:30 o'clock conducted by Rev. G. R. Tyler.
Interment was made at Woodlawn Cemetery, conducted by the Knights of
Pythias.  Deceased was a member of Campbell Lodge No. 355.  He was also a
Mason.
At the time this is written but few of the particulars of Mr. Talley's
sudden death could be learned.  He was practically a stranger at Elk City,
as he had recently gone there from Ardmore, to work for a new mercantile
establishment.  Telephone connections were bad and only the fact that he
was found dead in bed could be ascertained.  He had suffered a heart
attack during the night.  Though apparently hale and hearty, he had had
some trouble with his heart once or twice before, but he had not
considered the trouble serious.  At the hotel where he died he had
appeared in his usual good health when he retired for the night.  Always
jolly and good natured, he had joked with acquaintances at the hotel
during the evening and his death was not discovered until next morning,
when he did not appear for breakfast.  The hotel proprietor found him dead
in bed.
All the relatives were notified from this city, by telephone and
telegraph.  His daughter, Mrs. Scott of Ardmore, was instructed to meet
the body at Oklahoma City and accompany it home, which she did.  A member
of the Masonic fraternity accompanied the body from Elk City to Oklahoma
City and rendered all possible assistance to Mrs. Scott.  Masons among the
railway trainmen all along the route home also kindly and sympathetically
rendered assistance.
W. A. Talley was born at Millerville, Cape Girardeau county, Mo., March
11, 1874.  He grew to manhood there and at Fredericktown where he was
united in marriage to Miss Fannie Brown, only daughter of Mrs. Charlotte
Brown, who now resides in this city, and sister of the five Brown
brothers, of Campbell.  To Mr. and Mrs. Talley five children were born,
all of whom are now living; Lavice (Mrs. Roy Scott of Ardmore, Okla.);
Brown, of New Orleans; Lloyd of Webster Groves, Mo.; Charlotte, a student
at the Teachers College, Cape Girardeau; and Charley, who is at home with
his mother and attends school here.  All the children were present at the
funeral and burial
Mr. Talley had been in the mercantile business since he was 16 years old,
having been employed at that age by Mr. Sherman, a merchant of
Fredericktown.  He was employed in some of the best stores in the country,
having lived at Oran, Mo., Mena, Ark., Ardmore and Ringling, Okla., and
for several years he had a business of his own here in Campbell.  After
selling out here he was a traveling salesman for a while and then he went
back to Oklahoma, where he was employed by the owner of a chain of stores,
who recently sold out to a new firm and Mr. Talley was sent to Elk City to
run the business there.
He maintained his family in Campbell, as all his wife's relatives live in
this neighborhood and his work as a salesman required him to be away from
home most of the time.
Mr. Talley's general disposition won him many warm friends here who join
the Citizen in extending sympathy to the bereaved relatives in their hour
of sorrow.

---------------------------------------------------
Return to Beckham County Archives:
http://www.usgwarchives.net/ok/beckham/beckham.html