p. 14 | Obituary | AdventAI

International Tract and Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Nov 11, 1889

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 15, No. 43.

Obituary.

RICHEY.—Died of cancer of the face, near New Castle, Cal., Wesley E. Richey, aged 56 years, 9 months, and 21 days. He had for two years expressed a firm belief in the truthfulness of the Third Angel's Message, and though his suffering at times was great, he bore it with Christian fortitude. He was a kind and loving father, husband, and friend. We mourn not as those who have no hope, but expect to meet him in the resurrection morn, when all sickness and pain will be over. GRANT ADKINS.

BOOTH.—Fell asleep in Jesus at Syracuse, N. Y., September 1, 1889, George H. Booth, aged 81 years. His death was caused by pneumonia. In 1846, he was married to Lenora Booth, a lady of his own name, though not related. He was an old resident of Syracuse at the time of his death, having lived there fifty-two years. When he first located there, it was a mere burg, but he lived to see it a city of 85,000 inhabitants. For years, nearly all the time he lived in the place, he was officially connected with the affairs of the city, being constable and tax collector at the time of his death. He was a man of remarkable strength and activity, not knowing what it was to have one hour's sickness for sixty years. He attended to business till within a few days of his death. He was a strictly temperate man, which preserved the faculties of his mind to a marked degree to the very last. Several years since, he became interested in religious matters, and was fully converted, as his whole course in life demonstrated. He united with the Episcopal Church. Some three years ago, through missionary work in the city of Syracuse, two members of his family embraced the views of Seventh-day Adventists, and he became very favorable to said views. Being a man who would thoroughly investigate everything which presented itself, he studied our views some time, and at last, becoming thoroughly convinced that our positions as a people are true, he took a decided stand to live them out. Before he did so, however, as our people in the city desired to purchase property for church purposes, but were not in a condition to furnish money for the first payment, Brother Booth kindly put an incumbrance on his own property, and furnished the first $1,000 toward paying for the property. He felt very anxious to live long enough to see the property free from debt. For some time before his death he became almost a constant reader of his Bible, the Signs, and the Review, and after having read the papers himself, he would give many of them to leading men in the city, and try to interest them in that which the papers teach. He was a loving husband, and one of the kindest of fathers. He had a very large circle of friends in the city, from the fact that he was so kind and sympathetic that all loved him. He would often aid the poor to pay their debts, instead of unmercifully enforcing the law, which he had it in his power to do, and thus strip them of all they possessed. The funeral was largely attended by many of the prominent citizens of the city, Elder Place and the writer conducting the services. The writer gave the funeral discourse, basing his remarks on Ps. 116:15. Elder Place conducted the services at Oak Wood Cemetery chapel. The occasion was a solemn one, and the impression was an excellent one for good. Friends were present from Rochester, Utica, Toledo, Detroit, and other places. Brother Booth leaves a wife, two sons, three daughters, and a number of grandchildren, to mourn. But they do not sorrow as others who have no hope, for they fully believe that the husband and father will live again in the glorious resurrection morning. S. H. LANE.