Chester-Delaware County PA Archives Obituaries.....Gravelle, J. Silas November 24, 1942
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Dan Lindley danoh19344@hotmail.com August 17, 2005, 10:19 am

Daily Local News, December 12, 1942
Daily Local News
December 8, 1942
J. Silas Gravelle
	Friends in West Chester have received word of the death, in Joplin Mo., 
of J. Silas Gravelle, formerly of this borough, which occurred on November 
24th.  He had been in the Freeman Hospital, in that city, since November 4th.

	He was a former Secretary of Joplin Y.M.C.A, and recently had been 
Executive Secretary of the Joplin Red Cross.

	Mr. Gravelle was born at Chester Heights, Delaware County, his father 
dying when he was two years of age, and his mother, Mrs. Nellie Gravelle, 
moving to West Chester.  He learned the printing trade in the office of the 
Daily Local News, in this borough, later leaving for Boston, Mass., where he 
was associated with a relative in the florists’ business.

	While in Boston, he became interested in Y.M.C.A. work and served as 
Boys Secretary of the Association in Melrose, Mass., before going to Joplin, in 
1905, as Boys Work Secretary of the Joplin Y.M.C.A.  In 1908 he became General 
Secretary, which position he held until 1927, when ill health caused him to 
retire.  During his term, the new $250,000 Joplin Y.M.C.A. was erected and 
formally opened in 1921.

	Mr. Gravelle had continued active in character building and welfare 
work almost up to the time of his death, despite the fact that he was a 
frequent sufferer.  He suffered from carcmona (sic) of the mouth, and underwent 
several operations at the Mayo Clinic for the removal of a part of the upper 
jawbone and teeth to fight the spread of the disease.

	While in West Chester, he united with the First Baptist Church, and had 
been active in the First Baptist Church of Joplin in which he was, in 1925, 
elected deacon for life.  He was a member of the Joplin Rotary Club, having a 
record of twenty years’ perfect attendance.

	His work with boys led to the establishment of Boy Scout work in 
Joplin, which he carried on personally, in addition to his Y.M.C.A work, until 
the organization had grown large enough to employ a personal director.

	He became Executive Secretary of the Joplin Red Cross chapter n 1936, 
and had been re-elected yearly since that time.  He had been director of the 
Joplin Children’s home for more than twenty years. 

	As Red Cross Secretary, he gave much time to personal work among 
veterans of the first world war and their families, and to the families of 
soldiers of the present war.

	Mr. Gravelle’s wife, Ida F. Gravelle, passed away n 1936. A son, Dr. H 
Roy Gravelle of Norman, Okla., and two grandchildren Clifton and Janis 
Gravelle, survive.  


Additional Comments:
Note:  Another article published by the DLN, May 12, 1923, reports the Y.M.C.A 
cost $350,000.

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