McCormick Family Obits

I'm reading Newspapers.com this rainy afternoon. Found a few McCormick obits of people my GGrandmother Elta (McCormick) Coffee or her parents may have known--beginning with her dad's obituary:



Obit of Elta's father's father, William S. McCormick, Sr.:


via Carroll Daily Times-Herald, Carroll, Iowa, p. 2, on August 21, 1945.


via Gibson City Courier, Gibson City, Illinois, p. 4, March 20, 1914.


via The Decatur Review, Decatur, Illinois, p. 24, on May 18, 1950.


A grandson of William S. McCormick, Sr., via Redlands Daily Facts, Redlands, California, p. 6, April 25, 1961.



Vada, daughter of Firman and Lucinda McCormick, was the g-granddaughter of William S. McCormick Sr and his wife Mary Morgan McCormick.  via The Atlanta Constitution, Atlanta, Georgia, p. 45, May 26, 1997.



A grandson of William S. McCormick, Sr., via Des Moines Tribune, Des Moines, Iowa, p. 8, April 20, 1959.


Another grandson of William, Sr., and our GREAT Aunt Helen's cousin, via Albuquerque Journal, New Mexico, p. 84, April 10, 1983. (Postscript to Coffee cousins:  my app's relationship-counter ALSO indicates Helen and Wilfred were 4th cousins via a distant Van Doren ancestor-cousins who were married). #Agoodygoody



This was Roscoe and Margaret's son, and grandson of William McCormick Sr. and wife Elizabeth Mount Van Doren. 


I Love This Obituary

          No, I do not know this man. I ran across his obit while looking for a second cousin. Mr. Borst and my cousin are "resting" in the same "memorial garden."

          Whoever wrote his obit, I want her/him to write mine in 40+ years. 



9/21/1936 - 6/22/2019

This is the story of James Edgar Borst. Jim was a wonderful man that was loved, is missed and will always be cherished. "My Honeybun" as he liked to be called by his wife, was an amazing husband, father, uncle, brother and son. 

This is intended to capture Jim's spirit, not his resume. However, his successful businesses and accomplishments are how he was most commonly known. Owner of Jim Borst Auto Repair, Manager at McCullough Corp, Service Manager of Tucson Harley Davidson and concluding his career at Ace Hardware of Green Valley at the age of 78.

He loved his mom, Hazel M. Borst (deceased) who with the help of his grandparents (Euans) reared Jim after his father Edgar's death when Jim was 11. He worshipped his older sister, Phyllis Westfall (Carson City, NV) and cherished his younger sister, Suzanne Hess (Tucson).

Jim married Sydne Ann (deceased) his high school sweetheart and they had three sons, Tony (Tucson), Tim (deceased) and Todd (Benson). Jim married Sabra in 1988. She taught him how to two-step and he taught her how to ride motorcycles. Together they took up golf when he turned 75! Although the scorecards never saw the light of day, he loved to laugh out loud about the fun he had.

He had a life-long affair with root beer, coca cola and Blue Bunny Homemade vanilla ice cream with chocolate syrup and pecans.

Jim took fashion cues from no one. His signature look was western boots and Wranglers.

Jim was a very private man. If you wanted to know his cause of death, he would have told you that it was none of your business. If you asked Sabra, his beloved wife would tell you Alzheimer's. Although his prognosis was dire, he battled on, lived his life and survived several years beyond the expert's expectations strictly on his terms.

In honor of his wishes, Services will be private for family only, free of any type of "theme". Interment is at Green Valley Cemetery, Green Valley, AZ.

In lieu of flowers please make donations to the , #ENDALZ; https://act.alz.org/donate

(Published in the Arizona Daily Star on June 30, 2019)

His photo looks nice, too:   https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/200790898/james-edgar-borst





In Memory of a Man of Steel

He welded metal art AND worked with steel:

Published in the Charleston Daily Mail, June 7, 1972.

--Your Blog Mistress was unable to obtain from Newspapers.com
or Newspaperarchive the continued story from "Page 1-D" of Mrs.
Wilma Higginbotham. The digitized pages went from pages 11-C
to 3-D--omitting 1-D. Pity!



Obituary of Donald Lindbergh Samples (1928-2019)

          On Thursday, October 3, 2019, Donald Lindbergh Samples, loving husband, father, grandfather, great-grandfather, hero, best friend, supporter, overcomer, and rock to many, passed away at the age of 91. He lived most of his life in Procious, WV. Born May 17, 1928, he was a Navy Veteran, a 32nd degree Mason (Clay County Lodge #97 AF&AM), VFW Post 10476, and American Legion Post 0113. 

          He had many jobs over the years including Dupont, Pipelining, Coal Mining, Kroger, Chevrolet Truck division in Cleveland, Ohio, (making 1200 left truck fenders a day), Freuhauf Trailer in Elyria, Ohio, Cadillac Cleveland Tank plant; where he completed welding school was assigned to the turret division, back to Dupont in 1952, then in 1953 driving a bus in Columbus, Ohio. From there, he got a job as a welder making coal mining equipment and over the next seven years, was promoted to time and standards engineer. He took classes at The Ohio State University, College of Engineering in Welding Engineering, then took a job with North American Aviation, making Navy Jet Fighters. Then 10 years at Clendenin Lumber, promoted to VP, later he started politics and commercial businesses in Clay County: Samples Market and Samples Building Supply, 12 years as Clay County Commissioner. After earning a "University of Hard Knocks" degree from Jim Comstock and Alderson Broaddus, he earned a Regents Bachelor of Arts from Glenville State College in 1980. In 1988, he accepted the position as Supervisor of Clay County DOH, and finally in 1991 he took the camp manager position at the Advent Christian Camp Ground in Santa Cruz, California.

          He loved to travel and visited several countries in Europe and completed a goal of visiting all 50 of the United States. In keeping with his favorite, and most-known, piece of wisdom and advice passed down to all who loved him was "fake it till you make it," and he certainly made it.

          He had a passion for creating welded metal art sculptures for friends and family. He had an amazing ability to see a pile of scrap metal as people, horses, dogs, flowers, bugs, dinosaurs and more. These sculptures are sprinkled about all over the country and are prized possessions to those friends and family members.

          Preceded in death by parents Jake (1941) and Eva Samples (1997); his first wife of 58 years, Nora "Carmin" Samples (2006); his daughter, Vicki Paxton Samples (1995); sister, Violet Claire Wyche (2010); and brothers, "Boy Roy" (Tony) Samples (2019), Dickie (1971) and Mark (1932).

          He is survived by his Bride, Judy Samples; his sisters, Phillis Joy Samples, Garnet Kay "Katie" Khan, and Sherry Bassy; daughter, Vivian, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren. 

          No services are planned, per his wishes.


From the Charleston Daily Mail, June 17, 1975, page 6.