Mrs. J.L. Irick Died on Her 61st Wedding Day
Long an Invalid, She Passed Away After Short Attack of Pneumonia—Daughter Continues Ill

Although she had been an invalid for many years, and bed-ridden most of the time, Mrs. J.L. Irick was stricken last Sunday with an attack of pneumonia and died Monday afternoon at five-thirty o’clock, her death coming as quite a shock to members of her family and loved ones. She would have been eighty-two had she lived until the 23rd of next December.

Particularly sad was her going, because her eldest daughter, Miss Maggie Irick has been a patient in Wesley Memorial Hospital, in Atlanta, for the past three weeks. She was reported better Thursday, but her condition has been alarming at times.

Mrs. Irick breathed her last sixty-one years, almost to the hour, from the date of her wedding to the late Mr. J.L. Irick, who passed away thirty-five years ago. The gentle spirit of his wife went to join him in the better land after more than three decades of faithfulness to the memory of one with whom she walked to the marriage altar October 29th, 1873.

Of the five children born to this union, three survived through childhood, one of the daughters, Harriet Irick, passed away after she had reached her twenty-first birthday. Two of them, Miss Maggie and Miss Nancy Irick are left to mourn the passing of their precious mother, who had always been showered with the devoted love and attention of these two beautiful and accomplished daughters. They are members of the local school faculty.

One sister, Miss Hattie Gibbons, survives. Two other sisters, the late Mrs. Robert L. Battle, and the late Miss Virginia Gibbons, passed away during the past few years, Mrs. Battle going March 21, 1932, Miss Gibbons October 26, 1928, while their brother, the late John R. Gibbons died in 1919.

Nieces and nephews surviving include Mrs. Robert H. Renfroe, of Cartersville, Miss Ann Gibbons and Mr. Felton Gibbons of Bauxite, Ark. and Mr. Georgia Gibbons of Pittsburg, Pa.; while Messrs. Allen and Will Battle of Rom, and Waring Battle of Atlanta are grandnephews. The late Dr. G.W. Battle, who died at Cassville in November, 1925, was a nephew.

Mrs. Irick united with the Methodist church in Cassville, while a lass of eleven under the memorable ministry of the late General Clement A. Evans. Her parents were the late Mr. and Mrs. George H. Gibbons, natives of Bridgewater, Virginia, who came to the county in October, 1863, and located in what is known as the Grassdale community. Having left behind their beloved war torn Virginia where their house was for a time headquarters for the immortal Stonewall Jackson, the new-comers purchased valuable acres and some of these buildings are still in the family possession. For several generations, the Gibbons family and their descendants have been leaders in religious, civil and political undertakings in this section of Georgia and their influence has always been slong most worthy lines.

Funeral Services

Funeral services in keeping with the quiet and unostentatious life of the deceased, were held Tuesday afternoon at the home on Market street, where she had resided for the past quarter of a century. A former pastor, Rev. Walter S. Robison, came up from College Park to assist Pastor Nath Thompson of the Sam Jones Memorial Methodist Church. Scripture verses, unusually appropriate, were read by Mr. Robison who also paid a loving tribute to the memory of Mrs. Irick, while Mr. Thompson read that old familiar hymn, “How Firm a Foundation.” At the graveside in Cassville cemetery, where sleep other loved ones of years now gone, Mrs. A.B. Cunyus sang most tenderly “The Christian’s Good Night.”

The pallbearers were Dr. Sam Howell, Carl Nelson, Bernard Herring, Thomas J. Champion, J.M. Neel and Colquitt Finley. Arrangements were in charge of Cummings-Long-Owen.

Quite a large concourse of friends gathered at the home for a last tribute of respect, and out-of-town relatives and friends present included Mr. and Mrs. Felton Gibbons, Miss Annie Gibbons, and Mr. Hampton Pace, who motored here from their home in Bauxite, Arkansas; Mr. and Mrs. Robert Gibbons, Miss Fannie Gibbons, Mr. and Mrs. R.N. Battle, Mrs. Will Battle, Sr., Mr. Will Battle, Jr., Mrs. D.W. Curry, Mr. Waring Best of Rome; Dr. and Mrs. Walter Robison of College Park and others.

Reports from the bedside of Miss Maggie Irick, at noon Thursday, said she was much better, but still in a critical condition, because of which she has not been advised of the passing away of her mother. Her sister, Miss Nancy Irick, is with her constantly and friends here are trusting the immediate future will being tidings of a definite and positive turn for an early and complete recovery.