Mrs Walter Timms Obituary, Johnson County, TX =============================================================================== USGENWEB NOTICE: In keeping with our policy of providing free information on the Internet, material may be freely used by non-commercial entities, as long as this message remains on all copied material, AND permission is obtained from the contributor of the file. These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or presentation by other organizations. Persons or organizations desiring to use this material for non-commercial purposes, MUST obtain the written consent of the contributor, OR the legal representative of the submitter, and contact the listed USGenWeb archivist with proof of this consent. =============================================================================== Submitted by Virginia M. Finley Cleburne, Feb. 26, 1934 82-Year-Old Resident of County Dies _______ Mrs. Walter Timms, Beloved as Neighbor and Friend, to Be Buried Today ________ Funeral services for Mrs. Walter Timms, 82, much-beloved pioneer woman of Cleburne who died early Sunday morning at her home on North Anglin Street, will be held this morning at 10 o'clock at the Church of the Holy Comforter, with Claude Canterbury, minister in charge. Mrs. Timms died at 5:40 a.m. Sunday. Her husband is seriously ill. Mrs. Timms, who before her marriage was Miss Ada Tracy, was born in Delphi, New York, April 10, 1852. Soon after her graduation from a boarding school in Cazenovia, New York, she went to Independence, Iowa, to make her home with her sister, Mrs. William Hill. While still but a girl herself Miss Tracy taught a rural school near Independence. Among her pupils were one or two who continued to correspond with her throughout the 60 years following her departure for Texas. One of those pupils, the editor of a northern newspaper, published recently in his paper a very beautiful appreciation of the young teacher, Miss Ada Tracy, who had been the inspiration of his attainments. In April, 1877, Ada Tracy came from Independence, Iowa to Cleburne with her brother-in-law and sister, Mr. And Mrs. William Hill. Soon Miss Tracy, a member of the Episcopal church from her childhood, was teaching a Sunday School Class and signing in the choir of the old Episcopal Church, which stood on East Henderson Street. During the two years, 1878 to 1887, she conducted a private school, listed in the "History and Description of Johnson County, 1879", as the `Caddo Street Select School, Miss A. H. Tracy, Principal." Here she taught many of the boys and girls of early Cleburne among whom were her nephews, Tracy, Fred and Leonard Dickson. On the evening of April 13, 1880, with the Reverend J. T. Hutcheson officiating, Miss Ada Tracy was married to Mr. Walter Timms, a jeweler, their wedding being the first evening wedding in the Cleburne Episcopal Church. Today Mrs. Timms is to be buried in the wedding gown in which she was married almost fifty-five years ago, and which is still in beautiful condition. It is a long white cashmere, polonaise style, trimmed in puffed white satin. Mrs. Timms will be remembered especially for her very true alto voice, which had its faithful place in the Episcopal choir for more than half a century, and also as "the lady of birthday", for she never forgot the birthday of her dear ones and her friends. From her own lovely flower garden there were always charming old-fashioned bouquets of jonquils, lilac, syringa or roses, to be taken with her cheery good wished to the one she was remembering that day. Often too, for those to be most highly favored, was a birthday greeting in an original rhyme. Surviving Mrs. Timms are her husband, Mr. Walter Timms, her daughter, Mrs. C. J. Stevenson, her grandson, Walter Finley and her three great-granddaughters, Evelyn, Rosemary and Virginia Finley; her three nephew, General Tracy C. Dickson, Fred D. Dickson, Dr. L. E. Dickson; her four nieces, Mrs. R. A. Thompson, Mrs. Frances D. Abernathy, Mrs. H. H. Teaff and Mrs. Comer Haynes of Merple, Texas. ________________________________________________________________ MRS. TIMMS, 82, IS BURIED AT CLEBURNE Funeral Services for Mrs. Walter Timms, 82, who died at her home Sunday after an illness of several months, were held at the church of the Holy Comforter Monday. Rev. Claude Canterbury officiated. Burial was in the Cleburne Cemetery. Pallbearers were S.D. Heyward, V.A. Gerstenkorn, B.C. Munday, J. Joiner, Walter Mudge and Vestal Wright. Mrs. Timms was Miss Ada Tracy before here marriage to Walter Timms, a Cleburne Jeweler, on April 13, 1880. Theirs was the first wedding in the Episcopal Church where last rites for her were held Monday. She was a native of Delphi, N.Y., where she was born April 10, 1852. While still a girl, she moved to Independence, Iowa, with her sister, now Mrs. William Hill, and taught in rural schools of that state until the family moved in April 1877, to Cleburne, where she resided continuously for nearly 58 years. Before her marriage she conducted the private Caddo Street Select School, where she taught many of the boys and girls of early Cleburne. Survivors are her husband; a daughter, Mrs. C.J. Stevenson; a grandson, Walter Finley, and three great-granddaughters, Misses Evelyn, Rosemary and Virginia Finley; three nephews, Dr. L.E. Dickson, Gen. Tracy Dickson and Fred Dickson and four nieces, Mrs. R.A. Thompson, Dallas; Mrs. H.H. Teaff, Mrs. Comer Hays, and Mrs. Frances D. Abernathy, Cleburne.