Source: News-Journal, May 11, 1944

THOMAS A. PEABODY, 1881-1944

Highest tributes are being paid to the memory of Thomas A. Peabody by his friends, acquaintances and business associates for having understood the true meaning of unselfishness and service to others. Mr. Peabody died shortly before 11:00 o'clock last Friday night [May 5] after an illness of sixteen months, and funeral services were held Monday afternoon. He would have been 63 years old July 31st. The appreciation of his influence and worth in this community was well expressed in the citation for the Kiwanis Club Citizenship Award presented to Mr. Peabody in 1934, "In recognition of the unselfish service rendered over a long period of years to the community, and with a desire to commemorate those unselfish qualities of spirit which have unobtrusively injected themselves into our civic life and thought, and for the purpose of focusing the attention of the rising generation on the value of unselfish service quietly and consistently performed, we, the Community Committee, do hereby nominate you as the recipient of the 1934 Star of Service from the Kiwanis Club."

Source: News-Journal, May 11, 1944

TOM PEABODY RITES MONDAY AFTERNOON

Funeral services for Tom Peabody were held Monday afternoon in the Peabody Memorial Chapel, the erection and exquisite furnishing of which was one of his chief joys. A light rain began falling about noon and continued steadily throughout the afternoon until it seemed as if the heavens had joined the community in an expression of grief and sympathy. The body was taken from the residence to the chapel at 10:00 in the morning and lay there in state until the funeral hour. The family had requested no flowers but many beautiful bouquets were present from close associates and especially from out of town friends who had not learned of the request.

The chapel was filled before the funeral hour and in expectation of the large number of friends who would attend, the 152 residents of the home and some forty employees remained in the parlors of the two residence buildings where they heard the services amplified from the tower. Max Allen of the Manchester faculty played a program on the pipe organ preceding the service. Two passages from the Scripture, the Twenty-third Psalm and Paul's apostrophe to love were read by the Rev. Harry Campbell, associate pastor of the First Presbyterian Church at Indianapolis and secretary of the Memorial Home board of trustees.

Dr. Hugh N. Ronald, superintendent of the Home, spoke on behalf of the Presbyterian Church Synod of Indiana and for the residents of the Home expressing grateful appreciation for the gift of the Home and paying tribute to the donors. The idea was conceived by James B. Peabody, but it became the greatest interest, outside his own family, of the son who brought it to its magnificent realization.

Following this tribute, Dr. Alexander Sharp of Indianapolis, superintendent of the Home during the formative period, 1932 to 1939, spoke in terms of warm appreciation of the extraordinary gifts of mind and heart possessed by Mr. Peabody. He also paid deserved praised to Mrs. Peabody for her generous part in the planning and building of the Home. The funeral sermon, dealing with the immortality of the soul, was preached by Mr. Peabody's pastor, the Rev. Homer Ogle of the Zion Lutheran Church.

After the service the body was carried by men closely associated in business with Mr. Peabody to the mausoleum in the base of the Peabody Memorial Tower, there to be sealed in the marble crypt which contains the bodies of his parents. The pall bearers were Fred Gingerick, O.M. Parmerlee, Robert M. Stauffer, Nolan D. Walker, Harold Warvel and Delbert Johnson.

Mrs. Peabody received over 200 telegrams and messages expressing condolence and sympathy. Hundreds of friends called personally or attended the services. Many came from out of town, including from Fort Wayne: Mr. and Mrs. Richard O'Connor, Mr. and Mrs. H.O. Bruggeman, Mrs. Oscar Fox, Mrs. Arthur Coe, Mr. and Mrs. Walter Barrett, Mrs. Helen Quimby, Mr. and Mrs. Roger Fisher, Miss Virginia Fisher, Miss Julia Emanuel, Mr. and Mrs. Marshall Dale, Mr. and Mrs. Thomas McKiernan, Mr. and Mrs. James Barrett, Mr. and Mrs. :Phil McNagny, Mrs. Guy Means and Mr. and Mrs. Fred Rump.

Columbia City: Mr. and Mrs. B. F. McNear, Mrs. Helen Clugston, Mr. and Mrs. Frank Northam, Mrs. B.J. Bloom, Mr. and Mrs. James Adams, Irvin Bolinger and family, Mrs. Jessie Faust, Judge and Mrs. Rob McNagny, Dr. Ben Linvill, Charles S. Smith, Mr. and Mrs. George Leininger, Mr. and Mrs. Steve Jones, Mrs. W.A. Jones, Mr. and Mrs. Claude Heritier, Mr. and Mrs. John Hoenstine, John Lillich and C.E. Lillich.

From Wabash: Mrs. James Wilson, Miss Elise Wilson, Mrs. Eva Pettit. Larwill: Mrs. Thelma Watkins and Miss Mary Watkins. Warsaw: Mr. and Mrs. Theodore Frazer, Mr. and Mrs. Justin Zimmer. Alexandria: Charles Naber. Huntington: Mr. and Mrs. John Snyder, Mr. and Mrs. Herbert LaMont, John Bonner and Mrs. Ruth Erehart. Chicago: Miss Bertha Shoemaker. South Whitley: Mrs. Anne Metzger and Dr. Paul Garber. Dayton, Ohio: Mr. and Mrs. T.T. Pontius and Mrs. Mary Steinman. New York: J.A. Rodriguez.

Also in attendance at the service were the following members of the board of trustees of the Estelle Peabody Memorial Home, The Rev. Charles A. Bowles of Shelbyville, the Rev. Ware W. Wimberly of Wabash, U.F. Fudge of Wabash and John W. Suverkrup of Columbus. Mr. E.C. McKinney, custodian of the assets of the Home, also was present.