OBIT: Walter Scott EASTON, 1940, formerly of Somerset County, PA

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

Copyright 2009.  All rights reserved.
http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm
http://www.usgwarchives.net/pa/somerset/
________________________________________________


WALTER SCOTT EASTON

  Walter Scott Easton, a former citizen of Salisbury, died at his home in 
Huntingdon, Pa., Oct. 29, 1940, at the age of 74 years and 16 days.  His health 
had not been good for a year or more, but being head machinist in the Furniture 
Department in the Pennsylvania Industrial School at Huntingdon, and being a man 
of great mechanical skill, he never felt happier than when looking after 
machinery and keeping it in order, and doubtless worked many a day when he was 
hardly physically fit to do so.  He was at his place of employment up to the 
Saturday before he died; but on the following Monday he had several paralytic 
strokes of varying degree, and in quick succession.
  At about 2:00 a.m., the next day, he became unconscious, and passed peacefully 
away five minutes before the noon hour.  His wife, who was Miss Lily Wagner, a 
daughter of the late Mr. and Mrs. Alfred Wagner, residents of Salisbury for many 
years, preceded him in death and was interred in the I.O.O.F. Cemetery at 
Salisbury about the year 1923.
  Mr. Easton was a son of the late Robert and Mary (Calhoun) Easton, and was one 
of a family of ten children, and is survived by two daughters and one son, 
Ethel, wife of Harry Anderson, and Grace, wife of Earl Hill, both of Johnstown, 
Pa.; and George, of Huntingdon.  Surviving also are two sisters and one brother, 
Mrs. Elizabeth Gipe and Miss Zella Easton of Johnstown, Dr. James Easton of 
Romney, W.Va., 19 grandchildren, and three great-grandchildren.
  Soon after Mr. Easton's body was prepared for burial, it reposed in state for 
a short time at the home which he, his son and family, had jointly occupied for 
some years, and was there viewed for the last time by neighbors, friends and 
fellow workmen, who called to express their sympathy to the sorrowing members of 
the household.
  Funeral services were conducted at the home, Thursday forenoon, Oct. 31, by 
Rev. George Morgan of Huntingdon, and the body was then taken to Salisbury, 
where Stanley M. Thomas, local mortician, assisted at the interment at 2:30 p.m. 
in the I.O.O.F. Cemetery, and a short service was conducted by the Rev. Morgan, 
at the grave by the side of the one in which reposes the remains of Mrs. Easton.
  During the earlier years of his life, when Mr. Easton resided in Salisbury, he 
was known as Salisbury's "handy man", as he was a veritable mechanical genius 
from the days of his youth.  He could repair any kind of machinery neatly and 
substantially, and could quickly locate anything that might go wrong with almost 
any kind of machinery that ever was built, which other good mechanics often 
could not locate.  He also made some valuable inventions.  He was also a valued 
employee of the Ingersoll-Rand Drilling Company of New York City for several 
years during his residence in Salisbury, and commanded a high salary while 
drilling deep test wells in various states in locating valuable mineral deposits 
with core drilling machinery.  He also did much valuable work about the coal 
mining equipment of some of the mines in the Salisbury region.  He also repaired 
watches and clocks for several years, and did good work at anything he undertook 
to do.
  Moreover, he was a man of generous impulses, and for many kinds of small 
mechanical jobs he was frequently called on to do for friends, neighbors and 
others, he seldom made a charge and would accept no recompense.  He also had 
mastered many things in chemistry, and was a veritable "jack at all trades", and 
good at them all.
  Among those who attended his burial at Salisbury, including relatives from out 
of town, were Mrs. Elizabeth Gipe and son, Kramer, Mr. and Mrs. Earl Hill and 
daughter, Dorothy, Mr. and Mrs. Harry Anderson and five of their children, Miss 
Zella Easton and Mrs. George Slick, all of Johnstown; George Easton of 
Huntingdon, Dr. and Mrs. James Easton of Romney, W.Va., and Mrs. F. A. Mousely, 
of Marysville, Pa.

Meyersdale Republican, November 7, 1940