Brownsville herald. [volume] (Brownsville, Tex.) 1910-current, 1926-03-19
END COMES AS !
PRESIDENT IS |
ON Way Home
Simple Services Will
Mark Funeral of
Calvin's Father In
Vermont Town


-Saddened by his fathers
death, President Coolidge
came back today to this isol-
ated, almost snowbound ham
let. where he was born and
lived as a boy.
AT the end Of a hurried
journey from Washington, the
last few miles Of which were
covered in an open sleigh, he
spent an hour in the seclusion
Of the farm house where his
eighty-year old father, Col
onel John @. Coolidge passed
away last night. Then he re-
turned to Woodstock, 16 miles
away, to remain until tomor-
row when funeral services will
be held.
The services will be brief and
marked by utmost simplicity. Burial
\ will be in the nearby country ceme-
v terry. and immed ately afterwards the
president and Mrs. Coolidge are ex-
peCted t0 depart for the capitol. The
/ presidents son, John, a student At
Amherst college, came here with his
parents.
Although it had been expected that
funeral services would be held in
the frame church across the road
from the Coolidge homestead, it
was decided tO hold them in the farm
house rarlor which adjoins the sit
ting room where in August, 1923,
Colonel Coolidge administered the
oath of president to his son.
Died Last Night
The services VIII be conducted by
the Reverend John White Of Sher-
burne. who also breaches here. He
will use the revised burial office of
the Episcopal church. There will be
no hymns and no eulogy.
The end came at 1O:41 o'clock last
night to the country merchant, JUS
tice of the peace and former member
oi governors staff, upon whose
hCmcly rural career special attention
began 70 be focused when he ad-
ministered the presidential oath of
office TO his son in the family home
stead by the light Of a kerosene
lamp. This was AZ the death of
I President Harding. Colonel Coolidge
was the only father of president
70 have such y .istinct:on. In two
weeks hc would have been 81 years
Of age.
Leaving Washington in the after
noon, when news came that the IN
eyitable ending of his fathers pro-
tracted illness was in sight, the
president was between New York and
Bridgeport, Conn. on his special
train as his father died. The news
was given to the train at Bridgeport
about an hour after death occurred.
Ends Long Fight
A long and valiant struggle
with illness and age ended when
Colonel Coolidge gave up the spark
Of life after week Of steadily fail
ing strength. "A heart attack early
yesterday proved 70 be the beginning
of the end. His passing was without
pain ana very peaceful
In the white farm house. where the
president spent his boyhood days "a
faithful guard watched today By the
bier Of "thc squire Of Plymouth.
Deputy Sheriff Angus Macauley. who
acted as bodyguard for Colonel
Coolidge since his health failed fl
nally last June, remained at his post.
A few Of the neighbors came 10 pay
their last respects, but while others
came and went, Maeauley kept vigil
always.
The large parIor of the farm house
where the casket was placed held
many associations. Folding doors
had been thrown open to include
In one room the parlor and the little
sitting room in which the colonel In
August, 1928, administered the oath
TO his son as president. In this same
room six years ago the body Of the
colonels wife lay in state while
neighbors passed in silent final tri-
butte.
This IN the fifth time since nv be-
came the chief executive that Prcsi-
dent Coolidge has visited Plymouth
and of these visits three have been
made in circumstances Of sorrow. ln
the summer NJ 1924, the president
and Mrs. Coolidge came here IN order
that their son, Calvin, might rest
with his ancestors in the hillside
cemetery. Last June the president
was summonly hastily from his sum-
mer home ~ Swampscott, Mass
CONTINUED on Page %