Truman, Martha Ellen (1853-1947)

Mennonite Weekly Review obituary: 1947 Aug 7 p. 1

Birth date: 1853

text of obituary:

MOTHER OF PRESIDENT TO FINAL RESTING PLACE

A 94 YEAR old pioneer mother, Mrs. Martha Ellen Truman, who lived long enough to see her son become president, was taken to her final resting place in simple funeral rites at Grandview, Mo., Monday, July 28.

Informed that his mother’s months-long illness had taken a turn for the worse, President Truman had left Washington by plane but failed to arrive before she passed away.

The short, 20-minute service in Mrs. Truman’s green-roofed cottage was conducted by her Baptist pastor, Rev. Welbern Bowman of Grandview. Seated in the kitchen, the President and his family listened to the minister as he spoke a brief message from a position midway between the dining room and living room. The casket rested in the bedroom where the President’s mother died.

Burial was in a nearby church cemetery.