Ai'itir, 14, 1910. 



The Weekly Florists' Review^ 



J5 



OBITUARY. 



Mrs. W. J. Vcsey. 



'Jlu! ciitiro niembfiship of tlie llurists' 

 prot'cssioii will hti startled ami siioekod 

 by tiio iiiu'xpLTtL'd news ol' tlio death of 

 Mrs. \V. J. Vesey, a former presidout of 

 the J,adies' S. A. 1>". aud one of the best 

 known and most higldy esteemed women 

 connected with the trade. She was the 

 wile of Jiidy;e William J. Vesey and one 

 (if the most ])romineiit women in i'ort 

 Wayne, liid., her home city. Siie was 

 stricken by an attack of heart disease 

 while ridiiiy on a Fort Wayne street car, 

 and died suddenly shortly before S 

 u 'clock I'riday evening, April M, a uio- 

 menl after she had been taken from the 

 car and assisted into a drug store at 

 J-Jroadway and Taylor street. 



Dr. ('. JI. Juiglish, the family physi- 

 cian, stated that death had been due to 

 arterio sclerosis, combined with fatty de- 

 generation of tiie heart, from which .Mrs. 

 Vesey had been sulfering for some time, 

 an>l that in ail jirobability the fact that 

 .Mrs. Vesey had hastened iu order to 

 catch the car may have contributed to 

 the crisis at this time. Close frientls of 

 .Mrs. Vesey were aware that she had been 

 subject to a heart weakness, but they 

 were wholly unprepared for the distress- 

 ing shock of news of her sudden death. 



During the afternoon Mrs. Vesey bad 

 been a guest at a social alfair, and in 

 company with her youngest daughter, 

 .Miss Catherine, she was on her way down- 

 town to attend the performance of "The 

 Music .Master" when she was stricken. 

 Mrs. Vesey and her daughter boarded the 

 northbound Broadway car at Maple ave- 

 nue, and a monn-nt after she was seated 

 in the car Mrs. Vesey became ill and 

 stepped out u2)on the rear platform to 

 secure air. 



When the car neared Taylor street the 

 car was stopped, and a number of the 

 passengers assisted Mrs. Vesey into the 

 drug store. IShe was seated upon a chair 

 iu tlie front portion of the store, and a 

 moment latt-r collapsed as if iu a faint. 

 She was then carried to the rear of the 

 store aud atteni[its were made to revive 

 her, but a physician, who had been hur- 

 riedly summoned from his ollice next 

 door, found that death had intervened. 



Attorney A. J. Vesey, a brother-in-law, 

 was called from the Masonic Temple in 

 the belief that Judge Vesey had not yet 

 arrived in the city from a trip to War- 

 saw. The husband was reached by tele- 

 phone at his ollice a little later and told 

 that his wife was very ill. lie hastened 

 to tiie drug store, his brother meeting 

 him on the way there and breaking the 

 news to him that his wife had passed 

 away. The coroner had been notified, 

 and an ambulance at once removed the 

 remains to the Vesey home, at L'GOJ 

 Thompson avenue. David Vesey, a son, 

 who is attending .Michigan University, at 

 Ann .\rbor, reached the city the same 

 evening, bringing a nundier of colh^ge 

 friends to spend the v.ac.ation with him, 

 and news of his mother's death was com- 

 nmnicated to him as he alighted from the 

 train. 



Mrs. Vesey 's age was 47 years. She 

 was born in Decatur, hid., a daughter of 

 the late Judge David Studebaker, was 

 educated at Decatur and iu the Fort 

 Wayne .M. E. College, and was united in 

 marriage to Judge Vesey July 25, ISai;. 

 Si.x children were born to this union, all 

 of lliem, with tiic husband and father, 

 surviving. The children .are Margaret, 

 Sallie, Dick, William J., David S. and 



Catherine Vesey. Miss Sallie is a student 

 at DePauw and Dick at Ann Arbor, but 

 the latter had gone to (ireencastle to 

 spend the vacation holidays. Miss .Mar- 

 garet is one of the vice-presidents of the 

 Ladies' S. A. F. for the present year. 



Mrs. Vesey was widely known as a 

 florist and an authority ou horticulture, 

 and her love of llowers had led her to 

 engage with ^icr husband in business as 

 a florist, the firm being W. J. & M. S. 

 Vesey. In the Vesey greenhouses, in Fort 

 Wayne, have in the last few years been 

 developed some of the notable advances 

 in the Horiculture of America, and they 

 liave won recognition at all the larger 

 horticultural exhibits of the country. 



Socially, IMrs. Vesey was one of tlie 

 most widely known and prominent women 

 of her eitv. She was active in religious 



Mrs. W. J. Vesey. 



work, and was a member of Wayne Street 

 Methodist Episcopal Church and presi- 

 dent of its Ladies' Aid Society. In ad- 

 dition, Mrs. Vesey had been for several 

 years the jiresident of the Young 

 Women's Christian Association. Her cul- 

 ture, her enthusiasm aiul her kindly 

 charm made her universally admired aud 

 esteemed in a^ wide circle of acquaint- 

 ances. 



The following communication from A. 

 F. J. Baur, just received by the Keview, 

 expresses well the general feeling of be- 

 reavement caused by Mrs. Vesey 's death: 



"It is with profound sorrow that I 

 have heard of the untimely death of Mrs. 

 W. J. Vesey. A woman iu the prime of 

 life, held in the highest esteem by a wide 

 circle of ac()uaintaiues in tlie trade, her 

 death will be a personal loss to a multi- 

 tude of friends. 



"Perhaps no woman in the trade had 

 a wider personal acquaintance than Mrs. 

 Vesey, and her kindly smile and cheery 

 word will be missed at our conventions 

 and llower shows, where we enjoyed meet- 

 ing her. 



"Those whom we caii spare the least 

 we are reijuired to give up first. 



"It is those of .Mrs. Vesey 's type who 

 can sincerely repeat that beautiful pas- 

 '^age of David's twenty-third psalm, 

 ' Vea, though 1 walk through the valley 

 of the shadow of death, 1 will fear no 

 evil, etc' " 



Peter Warren. 



The death of I'eter Warren last week 

 marked the passing of an old-timer from 



the gardeners' ranks at Xewjxirt, K. 1., 

 wliere he had residetl for nearly fifty 

 years. He was a gardener of more tliau 

 ordinary ability and was employed for 

 many years on the -Jones estate, and was 

 a {|uiet, honest soul, who did his work 

 well, attemled to his own iiusine.ss and 

 tried to do the things of tiiis world as 

 tiiey should be done. 



I'eter Warren was Ik an in Virginia 

 eiglity-two years ago, ,i sla\i', and as a 

 boy was employeii about the gardens of 

 liis master's home, lie eaiiie(l his iibeit}' 

 bcl'iire tii(^ Civil w.xi and came north, set- 

 tling in A'ewjiort, where he soon found 

 employment about tlie estates as a gar- 

 dener, and, until his death, he continued 

 at that work. He was tiie only colored 

 man in tlie tlistrict wliere lie lived, but 

 despite his dark skin ail liis neighbors 

 considered him a "white man,'' and that 

 is what lie was in th(3 way tlie ex()ression 

 is generally used. His funeral occurred 

 from his home, 11.') Hcmstoii avenue, 

 .\pril 7, and was largely attended, gar- 

 • leners of Aewport being present in gooil 

 numbers to [tny their silent tribute to the 

 aged man. 



Alfred A. Williams. 



Alfred A. Williams, one of tlie oldest 

 florists and greenhouse vegetable gar- 

 deners of Cranston, J\. 1., died at his 

 home on Hartford I'ike, April 1. Of 

 his sous, three are identified with the 

 florists' and gardeners' business. Mr. 

 Williams had been in failing health for 

 more than a year, death being due to 

 hardening of the arteries. He was a 

 son of Larned Williams, a lineal descend- 

 ant of Koger Williams, the founder of 

 lihode Island, and was born in Seekonk. 

 Mass., seventy-six years ago. He was 

 educated in the public schools of that 

 district, conqileting his education at the 

 Lapham Institute at Scituate. 



About fifty years ago Mr. Williams 

 took up his residence in the farmhouse 

 where he died and took a great interest 

 in everything pertaining to horticulture 

 and agriculture. lie always held the con- 

 trolling interest in the range of green- 

 houses on his place, run successively by 

 his sons, Alfred H., Larned, and for the 

 last eight years by Olney H. and the 

 hitter's sons. This range consists of 

 about l'OU,UUO square feet of glass, and 

 carnations, roses, violets, chrysanthe- 

 mums, ferns, bedding stock, vegetable 

 plants, azaleas and bulbous stock were 

 grown in great quantities. 



.Mr. Williams, in his younger days, was 

 prominent in the political affairs of the 

 town and was for several years a member 

 of the .lohnston town council and of the 

 Kliode Island ILmse of Kepresentatives. 



Mrs. Thomas Thompson. 



Mrs. Thomas Thompson, wife of the 

 well-known florist (jf Santa Cruz, Cal., 

 died .March ;51, aged (j3 years. Mrs. 

 Thompsoji was a generous, kindly lady, 

 with large sympatliies, and her death is 

 mourned by a wicle circle of friends. She 

 lea\es two sons and two daughters, be- 

 sides her husband, all of whom have uni- 

 versal sympathy in their affliction. 



Springfield, IMass. — Work is progress- 

 ing rapidly on the new greenhouse of 

 Mark Aitken, on his recently purchased 

 laml on the Kiver toad. 



l!>M.\u.s, Pa. — Daniel B. Kroninger will 

 offer at public sale. May 14, his green- 

 houses and other property on North Sixth 

 street, including four and a half acres 

 of ground and a stock of tomato plants. 



