Eunice Stoll Gilbert Succumbs to Injuries Received In Accident

Mrs. Sheldon R. Gilbert, 48, of Christopher, Illinois, known to her many Olney friends as the former Eunice Rose Stoll, daughter of Mrs. Anna R. (Iaun) Stoll and the late Jospeph I. Stoll, died Tuesday morning, September 6, 1938 at the Missouri-Baptist Hospital in St. Louis, of injuries sustained in an automobile accident near Marissa, Illinois on Monday, August 15, 1938.

Accompanied by her daughter, Clara Ann, Mrs. Gilbert was riding in a car operated by her husband and also occupied by the owners of the car, Mr. and Mrs. P.H. Major, of Hopkinsville, Kentucky, when the accident occurred. The group was enroute from Christopher to St. Louis, when three miles east of Marissa, an auto driven by Geo. Rody, a Tilden farmer, failed to observe a stop sign and drove onto the highway directly in front of their car.

In the resultant crash which overturned their car, Mrs. Gilbert and her daughter, Ann were the most seriously hurt, though other occupants received minor injuries. Ann, suffering a fractured collarbone, was removed to the DuQuoin hospital and subsequently to her home where her aunt, Miss Esther Stoll cared for her. Mrs. Gilbert was rushed to the St. Louis hospital where she was found to have sustained numerous bone fractures and extensive internal injuries which necessitated an emergency operation.

Possessed of firm, sincere religious qualities, Mrs. Gilbert showed extreme bravery during the time preceding her death, and her indomitable faith and will to live kept her alive several days after attending specialists at the hospital, where she was confined, had abandoned the last vestige of hope for her recovery.

Hovering for three weeks between life and death, Mrs. Gilbert last Friday, lapsed into a coma from which she never recovered. Surrounded by her immediate family, she finally succumbed to her injuries at 10:30 a.m. Tuesday, September 6.

Mrs. Gilbert was born in Olney April 20, 1890, the eldest daughter of the late Joseph I. Stoll, for 30 years publisher of The Olney Advocate, and Mrs. Stoll. Eunice attended Olney schools and graduated from the Olney High School with the Class of 1908. She later taught in the public schools here for six years and was married August 30, 1914 to Sheldon R. Gilbert of Olney.

After their marriage, the couple made their home in Christopher, where Mr. Gilbert is a mortician. Mr. Gilbert was owner of the Gilbert Funeral Home. He was born in Olney son of Mr. and Mrs. Collins Gilbert. He started in the undertaker business with the Schaub Funeral Home in Olney.

Mrs. Gilbert, well known and beloved by her many Olney friends, was an accomplished musician and was conceded by all to be an ideal home-maker and mother. A member of the Christian church in Christopher, Mrs. Gilbert was very active in all church activities.

She was instrumental in establishing a public library board, was a member of the Women’s Club, P.E.O., the choir of the Christian church, acted as substitute teacher in the schools for years and had an active part in every community enterprise. Her untimely passing is sincerely mourned in the city of her nativity and elsewhere where she was known and loved.

Besides her husband, she is survived by two children, Joe Collins Gilbert, 22 and Clara Ann Gilbert, 18 all of Christopher; her mother, Mrs. Anna R. Stoll; two sisters, Mrs. DeWitt Edith Wharf and Miss Esther Stoll and two brothers, Eugene and Edwin Stoll of Olney.

Funeral service conducted at the Christopher Christian Church, the body then brought to Olney where a short service was held at the home of her mother, 317 S. Camp St. Interment made in Haven Hill Cemetery in Olney.

Published in Olney Advocate (IL) – Thursday, September 8, 1938