The Ocala evening star. [volume] (Ocala, Fla.) 1895-1943, 1917-07-09
FUNERAL SERVICE
FOR LAGRANGE SIsTRUNK

'Those whom the gods love die
young" But they leave an aching
void in the hearts of those who love
them.
The home of Mr.. and Mrs. S. T.
Sistrunk has for years been a place
yielding to none in the happiness and
kindness dispensed from it, but the
shadow of sadness has lain heavily
upon it of late. Not yet had been dis
persed the sorrow brought upon it by
the death of the bright little girl
guest from Tennessee, when the man.
ly son, the households chief hope, was
stricken down and taken before his
loved ones could even bid him fare
Welt
All day yesterday, as the remains
of the brave young man, clad in the
pure white of his naval uniform, lay
in their casket in the parlor of his
late home, sad-faced friends came to
look upon him for the last time Many
tears were dropped upon the almost
flower-hidden casket. He was a we'll
beloved boy. He was always so will
ing and glad to help a friend. And
he had no enemies.
The little home would not hold the
friends that came to bid him the last
farewell this morning. They filled
the yard and street for a block in
each direction. Everybody in town
from the, country, particularly from
his parents old home in the north
west of the county. The board of
county commissioners attended in a
body and with them most of the
county officials.
1t was Ocala's first military funeral
of the war. All the officers of Com
pany A, two squads under Corporal
Efinger with rifles, as a guard of
honor, and nearly all the other MEM
bers of the company in town, with
out arms, were present.
Rector Ottman of the Episcopal
church, assisted by Rev. Bunyan
Stephens, conducted the brief but
touching services, and a choir consist
ing of Messrs. Jake and Albert Gerig,
Mrs. C. E. Winston and Miss Music
Bullock, sang the comforting hymn,
"Safe in the Arms of Jesus"
The officers of Company A, accom-
panied by a detail, then entered and
the captain reverently laid the colors
on the young sailors coffin. Then
the pail bearers, Robert Tydings,
Mel Ferguson, Robert MacKay, Ed
ward Nelson, Bernard Koonce and
Julian Bullock, all among the dead
BOYS close friends, bore the casket to
the hearse. They were followed by
the sorrowing relatives, the mother,
sister and aunt of the departed clad
in pure white mourning. They were
accompanied by the good old colored
''mammy," the family servant for
wears. who found the wounded boy
Immediately after the fatal accident
and vainly tried to give him aid.
With the soldiers preceding and
following the hearse, and nearly half
a mile of autoes in the procession, the
sad cortege wended its way to Green
wood. where the grave had been made
on the western slope of the city of the
dead. There more friends waited; there
must have been five hundred people
from all parts of Marion county pres
ent
The soldiers lined up by the grave
and stood with presented arms while
the casket was lowered to its last
resting place. Then they stood at
ease while the brief burial service
was conducted by Mr.. Ottman. At its
close. all bowed their heads while Mr..
Stephens raised his voice in prayer.
A word of command, the double line
of rifles came up and a volley rang
out. Again and again the guns spoke
their solemn parting and then sank
back to the ground while Bugler
Tucker sounded taps. Softly the sill
yer notes of the bugle rose, and then
the ceremony was over, and the dead
boys friends slowly and sadly came
away, leaving him to rest till time
shall be no more.