OBIT: Henry G. BILLS, 1930, of interest in Somerset County, PA

File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Meyersdale Library.
Transcribed and proofread by: Richard Boyer.

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HENRY G. BILLS

Has Answered Last Call of All
Death of H. G. Bills, Native of Grantsville, Md., at Wheeling, W.Va.

  Henry G. Bills, a native of Grantsville, Md., but for the greater part of his 
64 years of life a resident of Wheeling, W.Va., died at his home in the latter 
city at 5:30 o'clock Friday morning, Aug. 8th, of Bright's disease.  He had been 
sick since April 9th, this year.
  Mr. Bills was born in Grantsville, April 5th, 1866, the son of the late 
Charles and Barbara (Hammond) Bills.  He is survived by his wife, Mary Jane 
(Wright) Bills, a native of Kentucky; one son, H. Wilson Bills, of Chillicothe, 
Ohio; two brothers, Frank Bills, of Lonaconing, Md., and Charles H., of 
Grantsville, and one sister, Mrs. Mary (J. A.) Frazier, of Berkley, Cal.  One 
sister, Louisa, and three brothers, John, George and Andrew Bills, preceded him 
to the grave.
  Henry G. Bills grew up in his native village and was as fine a speciman of 
manhood - mentally, physically and morally - as the town of Grantsville ever 
produced.  He was naturally apt in learning and received a good public school 
education in his native village, which was later augmented by much useful 
knowledge acquired in the school of experience.  While yet a lad in his "teens" 
he studied telegraphy under a Grantsville tutor, and was still quite young when 
he secured a position as a Western Union telegraph operator in Pittsburgh, and 
in course of time became an expert dispatcher and receiver of press reports sent 
over the wires by the Associated Press and other news agencies.  He also became 
an expert in handling market reports for brokerage houses.  But the last twenty-
five years of his life were devoted to the telephone business in West Virginia.
  About 40 years ago he went from Pittsburgh to Wheeling as an employe of the 
Western Union Telegraph Company, resigning from that company a few years later 
to return to Pittsburgh as telegrapher for a brokerage company.  Less than three 
years afterward he went back to Wheeling and entered the employe of the 
Chesapeake & Potomac Telephone Company as a salesman, and remained actively 
affiliated with that company since December 23, 1905.  As the result of good 
work and good conduct he was made manager of the offices of the Wheeling 
District of the Chesapeake & Potomac Telephone Company in October, 1906, after 
less than one year of service with the company.
  On November 1, 1921, he was transferred to Morgantown, W.Va., as manager of 
the offices of the same company there, and held that position until January 21, 
1927, when he returned to Wheeling to accept the position of commercial 
representative of the company in that city, which position he held until his 
death.  Had he lived until April 5, 1931, he would have been eligible for 
retirement, on having spent more than 20 years in the service of the company and 
reached the age of 65.
  During his many years of residence in Wheeling he was not only prominent in 
business circles, but took an active part in the civic affairs of that city.  He 
was a charter member of the Wheeling Rotary Club and was a much beloved and 
highly respected citizen.
  Both in his physical make-up and mental equipment, Mr. Bills was a fine figure 
of a man - a man who it was always a pleasure to know and meet.  He usually 
spent his annual vacation in his native village, where he was always a welcome 
visitor.  He had a warm affection for the beautiful environments of his youth 
and for the good people of his old home town who will miss his annual visits.
  Mr. Bills' last home in which he passed away, was at 50 Fifteenth Street, 
Wheeling.  Funeral services were conducted at a mortuary home, 1308 Chapline 
Street, at 8 o'clock Saturday evening, by Rev. W. H. Fields, pastor of the First 
Christian Church of Wheeling.
  Early Sunday morning a motor caravan, conveying his body, left Wheeling and 
journeyed via the National Pike, a distance of 106 miles, to Grantsville, where 
the mortal remains of Henry G. Bills were laid to rest beside father and mother, 
brothers and sister, in the Bills family plot in the Grantsville Cemetery, where 
the funeral cortege arrived shortly before noon.
  The commitment services were in charge of Rev. S. D. Sigler, pastor of the 
Lutheran Church.
  The active pall-bearers were: Milton Rodamer, Fred Livengood, D. W. Dorsey, W. 
E. Stanton, Stewart Rodamer and G. J. Gnagey, friends of the deceased in 
Grantsville.  The honorary pall-bearers were associates of Mr. Bills in the 
service of the Chesapeake and Potomac Telephone Company - Harry Drummond, 
commercial department; Frederick Dunning, district superintendent; George Thrah, 
district plant superintendent; J. White and W. Petty, all of Wheeling, W.Va., 
and Harry Roberts of Clarksburg, W.Va.  The floral tributes were many and 
beautiful.
  Among the friends and relatives who attended the burial were Mrs. Thrall, Miss 
Jule Heftly, Miss Anna McDonough, all of Wheeling; Miss C. Wright, New York 
City; Mr. and Mrs. Goodlow Jackson, Cumberland.
  The death of Mr. Bills is sincerely mourned by his bereaved family, business 
associates and a host of loyal and admiring friends.

Meyersdale Republican, August 14, 1930