Enterprise, Wallowa County, Oregon
Mrs. J. S. Kay is Called Beyond
Mrs. J.S. Kay died last evening, Wednesday, July 28, 1937, after an illness of only a few hours, at her home in Enterprise.
Mrs. Kay had a little home near that of her daughter, Mrs. J. R. Wagner, and Monday was taken to the home of her son, Ralph, while Mr. and Mrs. Wagner were in La Grande. She stayed at her son’s home until Tuesday evening, when she asked to be taken to her own home as she was not feeling as well as usual. That evening she was very restless and nervous and gradually became worse until she passed quietly away last evening.
This spring she was with her daughter, Mrs. A.J. Eckren, in Spokane, when her sisters and her brother visited her and later the brother and a sister brought her to Enterprise for a longer visit, to which Mrs. Kay had looked forward for several years.
In spite of her long period of ill health, Mrs. Kay was always bright and cheerful and endeared her self to many friends by her kindliness and sweet disposition.
Josephine Electa Drake was born in Wisconsin in 1859, and moved when young, with her parents to Kansas, where she was married to J. S. Kay May 1, 1881, at Olsburg, Kansas. Three of her seven children were born in Kansas.
She moved with her husband to Wallowa county about 30 years ago and lived here ever since. Mr. Kay died in Enterprise in 1924, after many years in the service of the late G.W. Hyatt in the E.M. & M. Store.
There were seven children born to Mr. and Mrs. Kay, of whom five are living: Mrs. H.L. Browning of La Grande, J. Roger Kay of Pendleton, Mrs. A.J. Eckren of Spokane, Mrs. J.R. Wagner and Ralph D. Kay of Enterprise. There are also eight grandchildren and three sisters and a brother in California and a sister in Seattle, Washington.
Funeral services are to be held tomorrow (Friday) morning at the Booth chapel at 10:30 o’clock and interment will be in the Enterprise cemetery, Rev. H. G. Luscombe of the Methodist church conducting the services.
Source:Enterprise Record Chieftain, Enterprise, Oregon, July 29, 1937
Contributed by: Sue Wells
Transcribed by: Belva Ticknor