Notes:
Data source is Leonard Showalter. E-mail lshowalter@delphi.com
Mary Melissa Kline
In Tuscarawas Co., OH, in the year of 1850 lived a family named Showalter, Abraham and Hester Ann making their home there and raising their family, three boys and one girl, Mary Melissa, whom we all knew and loved for many many years after her arrival in Onekama.
Mary Melissa was born in 1857 and lived in Ohio until she was three years old, then with her parents lived a short time in Butler and La Grange, Indiana. When she was six her parents moved into Michigan, living for several years [at Loomis] near Mount Pleasant, where she met and married William Kline. They lived at Loomis one year before coming to Manistee county where she spent many years of a full rich life.
Their new home was literally hewn out of the dense wilderness and the pleasure of hearing Mrs. Kline tell of those experiences was like stories read in fairy tale books. The wild animals were sometimes too familiar for comfort; the substitutes they used in lieu of the supplies formerly on hand in the more populated areas in which their home had been previously; but nothing daunted, William and Mary pressed on with faith in the one God with whom they were well acquainted and whose power to provide was never doubted. They eventually' built a lovely home-the brick the work of Mr. Kline's own hands. This stands today, a landmark at the east of the village where Mrs. Kline lived until the close of her active eventful life Her gardens of lovely flowers always a delight to the eye and through the years we dare say "tons" of lovely blooms were presented to her countless friends and close neighbors.
In this atmosphere of a loving home were born eleven children, five of whom preceded their mother in death; Mr. Kline also pre ceded his wife by 39 years; but she kept bravely on in her own home with her three sons, Andrew of Birmingham Ernest and William of Onekama, frequent visitors, and the three daughters, Nancy (Mrs. Ed Brandt of Ohio), Nettie (Mrs. Louis Kemmer of Parkdale). and Rachel (Mrs. Omar Boulanger of Manistee), the latter two having shared in the care of their beloved mother through the past summer and fall when her usually good health failed and she told her friends, "I shall never make another flower garden, nor piece any more quilts, I am too tired."
Later in the summer she fell, breaking her hip, and was taken to Mercy Hospital, Manistee, where she was efficiently cared for. Three weeks before her demise she was moved to the home of her daughter Mrs. Kemmer, where it was soon realized that loving care on this earth was no longer effective, and on October 21st, she looked her last upon the loved ones here and joined those who had preceded her to that home beyond-there to join her faithful husband, and their children, Ada, Esther, Elmer, Alice and Lenox, where we are assured there is no parting, no pain, no tears.
The material body is gone but the memories and the work of those hands which now are still will live through the ages. Countless homes in many states cherish quilts for which "Grandma Kline" cut the patches and which she pieced into intricate designs and then quilted so finely and beautifully. In earlier years she expressed the desire to live to see the day when she could do nothing but make quilts and her desire was granted and her last years were especially happy in working with her chosen hobby.
At her beautiful funeral service her well-beloved pastor, the Rev. R. Boadway, spoke feelingly of "The Aged Saint", paying tribute to her years of faithful church membership and support of its many activities. The high esteem in which Mrs. Kline and her great love of flowers was shown by the profusion of beautiful blooms surrounding her bier, in her hand and hair her favorite red roses.
A heautiful life is closed upon earth to bud and blossom in the presence of His glory.
"MOTHER"
You painted no Madonnas
On chapel walls of Rome,
But, with a touch divine
Upon the walls' of home.
You wrote no lofty poems
The world pronounced art;
But, with a nobler genius
You put poems in my heart.
You carved no shapless marble
To symmetry divine,
But with a finer sculpture
You shaped this soul of mine.
Had I the gift of Raphael,
Or Michealangelo,
Ah! What a rare Madonna
This mother's life would know.
The above verse in. its lovely tribute paid, to a mother was read during the service and Rev. Boadway sang Mrs. Kline's, favorite hymn, "In- the Sweet Bye and Bye", sung and loved by herself and family and the hymn, "Sometime We'll Understand", by request of the family.
Loving hands laid all that was mortal of their dear mother to rest beside her husband in the Bertelson cemetery and one more chapter in- their earthly earthly ience softly closes.
Mrs. Lenox Kline, who still lives in the old home, gave unstintingly of her time and care helping the daughters when needed and was counted by "Grandma" as a daughter.
Seventeen grandchildren, also survive, with 16 great grandchildren, one brother, A. L. Showalter and many nieces and nephews whose memories of their dear one will always remain as among the happiest of their lives.
To know her, was to love her.
from an obituary in a county newspaper, probably the Manistee County Pioneer Press, or the Manistee News-Advocate.