Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1912-03-14
Rev. A. s. Coker.
From the steelville Ledger

NhAOLi thV pbCS1NlIlS LGuSeF.U
Died, at his home in this city,
Friday morning, March 1, 1912,
Rev. A. S. Cocker, aged 65 years, 8
months and 10 days.
All the carr and love that skilled
physicians and anxious loved
ones could devise and apply for
his comfort and assistance were
brought into play, but the edict of
Him who rules our incomings aud
outgoings had been issued, and
after a brief struggle filed with
pain that seemed almost unbear-
able-that was heart-rending to
those who attended him, the SUI
%ferer's spirit took it's flight to that
home the Christian believes is
the fulfllment of the life ever
lasting.
While it was not the lot of the
writer to have known the subject
of this sketch for a great length of
time, yet it seems that our &C.
q~uaintance runs through years
and in our limited knowledge of
facts and conditions surrounding
his life, we shall attempt here to
gather up the elements of his life
and weave of them a picture for
the walls of memory.
The book of life has been OPEN
ed and a new name has been writ
ten therein by the hand of love.
His life was a rare jewel; his
spirit as gold refined in the fire,
ready for the joys of heaven.
AS we stood beside his bier on
that beautiful Sabbath day, in
fancy, we could see him-not in
Deaths cold shroud of sorrow and
despair, but smiling upon us from
the sunset halo that marks Gods
farewell to the day-smiling with
all the we'll remembered grace of
his manhood, love and devotion,
and saying to us
"The sunset speaks but feebly of he
glories of
Another day. All is WE'LL"
AS we stood by his open grave
as the last sad rites we're per-
formed, and as the clay of earth
closed above his silent resting
place, we said with the poet
"Cold in the dust the persisted heart may
die,
But that which warmed it once can never
die"
He ran the journey of his life in
10 years. 1t is a path marked
with deeds of kindness and cheer.
Flowers not thorns, sunshine not
did he scatter every
where. With these he used a Law
ish hand. Truth was the inspira-
ton of his life and by kindness
he ~exemplifed it's great worth.
Was not a life like this full of
God-likness?
And there was reason Of this,
for at the tender age of seventeen
he gave his life over to God and
entered upon a life that was des-
tined to be filed with great good
for his fellow man, and with an
ending that was as triumphant as
1t vas glorious. He did not enter
upon his work in the Masters
until 1892, but the grand
cause he represented was made to
feel his presence in many fields of
!abor, and from the lips of those
whom he came in contact as
be journeyed through life, come
words attesting the high esteem in
which he was held, speaking in
glowing terms Of his grand work
the various communities where
ne labored. The intervening
years were full of consistent plan
and wise action. This was the
iountain Of the maturity Of his
For upon the white
,anvas Of his life he drew no un-
certain lines which needed to be
Erased. And with the hand of a
master he delicately spread the
Of life and made them
blend with promise. Therefore
We mourn. but not without hope.