DEATHS

 

Edith Edna Dawson, daughter of I. M. and Allie M. Dawson, was born April 1, 1897, in Lawrence County, Missouri. She came to Barton County with her parents at the age of two years, and to Ford, Kansas, in 1904.

 

On April 13, 1917, she was united in marriage to Arthur M. Karns. Two children, Glenn of Roswell, New Mexico, and Bethene, of Topeka, were born to this union. In 1934, she took into her home Bobby and Billy Smith, the twin sons of her youngest sister, Clarice. She cared for them for fourteen years; they now reside in Dodge City, Kansas.

 

Her life has been one of much suffering but has been devoted to family, to God and the church. Many times she served these beyond her physical strength. She was a charter member of the Ford Church of the Nazarene, and at the time of her death was a member at Pratt, Kansas.

 

She passed away in the Wesley Hospital, Wichita, Kansas, on March 14, 1953, leaving a testimony in her last conscious moments of seeing the brightness of heaven and calling the names of some of those gone on before who were beckoning her to come.

 

She has been preceded in death by her father and mother and one sister, Clarice. Survivors include the husband, Arthur M. Karns; the son and wife, Glenn and Shirley; the daughter, Bethene; two grandchildren, Carolyn and Dennis; one aunt, Ella Jenkins of Denver; three sisters, Mrs. Elmer Karns, Ford; Mrs. Elta Riley, Dodge City; Mrs. W. P. Warner, Fort Dodge; five brothers, Cliff Dawson, Ford; Everett Dawson, Ashland; J. O., Elmer, and Homer Dawson, all of Dodge City; many nieces and nephews, and a host of friends.

 

Her funeral service was held at the Church of the Nazarene in Ford, with her nephew, Rev. Clyde C. Dawson, of Indianapolis, Indiana, officiating, assisted by Rev. Ralph Jared, Pratt, and Rev. Forrest E. Ladd, Jr., Lawrence, Kansas. Interment was made at Ford.

 

—This carbon copy was included in a scrapbook created by Verna (Dawson) Karns, Edith’s sister.

[This is the original obituary written by a member of the family. It has some details not included in the copy printed in the newspaper, but it omits some details of the funeral. It was followed by a lengthy poem which is not included here.]