OBIT: Victor E. EISFELLER, 1940, native 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/
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VICTOR E. EISFELLER

  Brief mention was made in The Republican of Dec. 5 of the sudden death of 
Victor E. Eisfeller, a native of Somerset County and former resident of 
Meyersdale, while he and his wife were motoring from the home of their daughter 
in Colorado to their own home at Coral Gables, Florida.  Particulars of his 
demise were not learned by relatives here before the latter part of last week 
when a letter from Mr. Eisfeller's daughter, Zilda, Mrs. Lloyd Johnson, brought 
the information to her cousin, Mrs. Frances Imler.
  Mr. and Mrs. Eisfeller had spent the summer and autumn with their daughter and 
her husband at their home, Eden Ranch, in the Rocky Mountains, near Clark, 
Colorado.  It was Mr. Eisfeller's first vacation from his work on the Miami 
Morning Herald in a long time, and he enjoyed life on the ranch so much that he 
was contemplating remaining all winter.
  All his life, Mr. Eisfeller was subject to occasional attacks of neuralgia.  
In November he suffered an unusually prolonged and severe headache attack, and 
finally was prevailed upon to consult a doctor, who found he had high blood 
pressure and advised his immediate return to the lower altitude and milder 
climate to which he was accustomed.
  So in the last week in November Mr. and Mrs. Eisfeller started for their home 
in Florida, a destination he never reached, for on Sunday morning, December 1, 
when they were ready to pull out of a tourist camp near Mobile, Alabama, where 
they had spent the night, as he attempted to raise the hood of the car to 
determine why the starter did not work, he suddenly staggered and fell to the 
ground.  A doctor, summoned at once by the service station attendants, 
pronounced him dead.  Mrs. Eisfeller was so overcome by the shock of seeing her 
husband fatally stricken, that she collapsed and was unable to give any 
information as to their identity and destination.  Papers in Mr. Eisfeller's 
pocket identified him as being connected with the Miami Herald so news of his 
death and Mrs. Eisfeller's prostration was wired to that newspaper.  The 
publishing company that he had served long and efficiently immediately took 
charge and made arrangements to have the body shipped to Miami.  Two days later 
kind people at the tourist camp who had been caring for Mrs. Eisfeller sent her 
on to her home in care of a nurse.
  Mrs. Johnson received the tragic news 24 hours after her father's death, and 
within two hours was on her way to Florida with friends who were motoring to 
Dalton, Georgia.  There she made close connections with a train that took her to 
Miami, where she arrived on Friday.  The burial took place on Saturday.
  Mrs. Johnson stated in her letter that her mother had recovered from that 
first awful shock and is bearing up well, and that she is planning to stay with 
her mother until after Christmas.
  Victor E. Eisfeller was the fourth son and sixth child of German-born parents, 
Henry and Margaret (Loeffler) Eisfeller, who came to this country with their 
parents while very young.  He was born in Berlin, Somerset County, Pa., about 73 
years ago, and was still the baby of the family when his parents moved from 
Berlin to Meyersdale in the latter 60's.  Two younger brothers and a sister were 
born in Meyersdale after the family located here.
  Victor attended the Meyersdale schools from the primary to the grammer grades 
and at about the age of 15 began working at the printing trade in Meyersdale and 
Berlin, and later in Ashland, Ohio.  When about 18 years old he was far enough 
advanced as a printer to secure employment in the composing room of one of the 
Chicago daily newspapers.  An elder sister and brother also were employed in 
Chicago printing offices for some years, and eventually the entire Eisfeller 
family located in that city, after having lived for a while in Adrian, Mich., 
and Toledo, Ohio, after leaving Meyersdale in 1883.
  After type-setting by hand gave way to linotyping during the 90's, V.E. 
Eisfeller soon became a proficient linotype operator, which was his principal 
occupation for many years.  While thus employed in Chicago, during his young 
manhood, he met and fell in love with a very beautiful and charming young lady, 
Miss Ethel Miller, of English parentage, whom he married.  They were a congenial 
and happy couple until separated by the death of the husband.
  After working as a hired printer in Chicago for a number of years, Mr. 
Eisfeller established a chain of six weekly Republican newspapers in Chicago 
suburban towns, which he edited and managed successfully for several years, 
during which time he was a potent figure in Cook County (Ill.) politics.
  By and by he saw greater business opportunity as a building contractor and 
realtor.  So he sold his chain of newspapers and for some years built and sold 
homes in growing Chicago suburbs.
  During a lull in the real estate business after the United States became 
involved in the first World War, into which three of the Meyersdale Republican's 
young printers were drawn, Mr. Eisfeller, at the solicitation of his brother-in-
law and sister, Mr. and Mrs. W. S. Livengood, came back to the home town of his 
youth, to join the mechanical staff of the Meyersdale Republican.  His wife and 
daughter, Zilda, came with him, and for several years were members of The 
Republican household and popular residents of Meyersdale.
  Mr. Eisfeller gave valuable service as a linotype operator, and as an all-
round handy-man both in the mechanical and editorial departments of The 
Republican.  And in the spring of 1919, when The Republican had outgrown its old 
quarters in the Kendall building (now the Dia building) on Center Street, and 
the Garey building at the northwest corner of Center and North Streets was 
bought to become The Republican's new home, Mr. Eisfeller was placed in full 
charge on all contracts and building superintendent of the alterations and 
additions to the old building.  He remained on the job until the work was 
completed and the printing office was moved and settled in its new quarters in 
the latter part of July, 1919.
  Soon thereafter Mr. Eisfeller and family returned to Chicago and a little 
later moved to Coral Gables, Florida, where he purchased some suburban real 
estate, established a home and engaged in the real estate and building business 
on the outskirts of Miami.  He was not in Florida very long, however, before he 
got the urge to get back into the printing trade again, and during the last 
decade of his life he was employed as a linotyper on the Miami Morning Herald.
  Victor E. Eisfeller's genial disposition, unselfishness, cheerful optimism, 
and good fellowship made him a host of friends wherever he lived.  He was a 
devoted husband and father, a dearly beloved son and brother and loyal friend.
  Surviving besides his wife and daughter are an elder brother, Albert G. 
Eisfeller, Alhambra, Cal.; a younger brother, Phidias M. Eisfeller, Toledo, 
Ohio, and a younger sister, Mrs. Ergane Hulce, LaGrange, Ill.  His parents and 
two elder brothers, Frederick (who died in infancy) and Henry (well known and 
remembered in Meyersdale as ("Uncle Harry") Eisfeller, and two well remembered 
elder sisters, Miss May Eisfeller and Mrs. Louise E. Livengood (wife of William 
S. Livengood, Sr., and mother of Mrs. Frances L. Imler) preceded him in death.

Meyersdale Republican, December 19, 1940