Obituaries – Various

HARDY, Roy G.
Clipping from the Hardy files in Genealogy Room, Flower Memorial Library, Watertown  (pencil dated Mar. 8, 1964)
Roy Hardy, 57, Dies; Rites Set

  Roy J. Hardy, 57, locomotive enginemen at the Massey street yards of the New York Central railroad, died unexpectedly about 3:40 Sunday morning of a coronary thrombosis at his home, 228 Coffeen street.

  The funeral will be Tuesday afternoon at 2 at the Hart funeral home. Rev. John J. Kelley, pastor of the First Methodist church, will officiate. Burial will be in Brookside cemetery.
  Surviving him are his wife, Mrs. Annis Lawton Fuller Hardy; two children both born of his first marriage, Staff Sgt. Richard F. Hardy, air force, Kincheloe air force base, Mich. and Mrs. Patricia L. Miller, believed to be in New Jersey; a step-daughter, Mrs. Stephen W. (Shirley Ann Fuller) Fleetwood, Mt. Laurel, NJ and six grandchildren.
  Mr. Hardy, who had not been in good health, having been under treatment by a physician for high blood pressure, a kidney ailment, and diabetes, collapsed on the bedroom floor while returning to his room from the bathroom. He apparently died instantly from the sudden heart attack.
  He was born in Watertown Oct. 6, 1906, a son of Benjamin R. and Louise Touranjeau Hardy. He attended local public schools and lived in Watertown most of his life. For a time he lived at Natural Bridge.
  He had been employed by the railroad most of the time in the last 38 years, starting his career as a machinist’s helper at the engine house May 14, 1926. He was later a fireman before he was promoted to locomotive engineman, in which capacity he served for years until his death.
  He was for a long time engineman on the passenger Train from Watertown to Syracuse.
  Mr. Hardy served in the old 13th Separate Fleet Division, Naval Reserve and N.Y. Militia, for eight years – from March 15, 1929, until his honorable discharge in March 1937.  He was a fireman, first class, in the unit when he was discharged.
  He married twice. On Dec. 24, 1927, he married Miss Ruth E. Williams, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Patrick E. Williams of this city, at the Church of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart. The marriage ended in a divorce Nov. 19, 1936. 

PHELPS, Cora Mae (Adams)
Watertown Daily Times, Jan. 7, 1955 p. 10:5
WIDOW OF WM. S. PHELPS, 67, DIES

Former Dexter Resident succumbs at Home of Son Near Adams

Henderson, Jan. 7 – Mrs. Cora Belle Adams Phelps, 67, widow of William S. Phelps, died at 7 a.m. today at her home on Adams Star Route. She had been suffering from a heart condition for the past several years.

Funeral services will be held Sunday at 2:30 p.m. at the Johnson funeral home Dexter with Rev. Dr. Harold H. Niles, pastor of All Souls Universalist church of Watertown officiating. Burial will be in Dexter cemetery.

Mrs. Phelps is survived by her mother, Mrs. Katherine Benedict, Watertown; two sons, Leo R. and Lyle A., both of Henderson; two daughters Mrs. Carl (Virginia) Majo, Dexter, and Mrs. Robert (Louise) Sherman, Depauville; three sisters Mrs. Lela Slate, Lockport, Mrs. Edna Gillen and Mrs. Ethel Vanderwalker both of Watertown, three brothers Isaac Adams, Chaumont; Douglas Adams, Brownville, and Ralph Adams, Dexter, three grandchildren and three great grandchildren.

Born in Chaumont on May 3, 1887, Mrs. Phelps was the daughter of Frank and Katherine Adams. On August 1, 1906, she was married to William Phelps, a farmer who died in 1946. She moved to Henderson two years ago from Dexter and made her home with her son Lyle.

RIDGEWAY, Earl Douglass
Evening Telegram, Herkimer, NY, October 3, 1955

North Columbia Pastor, 80, Dies
Ilion – The Rev. Earl D. Ridgeway, 80, who had served this area for more than 40 years, died Sunday after a brief illness at his farm home on North Columbia Rd., following several months of failing health.
  Friends may call from 2 to 4 p.m. and 7 to 9 p.m. today and tomorrow at the Wilcox Funeral Home, where services will be conducted at 2 p.m. Wednesday by the Rev. James Benes, Mohawk, with burial in Cedarville Cemetery.
  While the widely known clergyman had been in ill health for some time, his death was unexpected. He was born in Wayne County on Aug. 31, 1875, son of Isaac and Emma Douglas Ridgeway.
  Mr. Ridgeway graduated from the Moody Institute in Chicago and began his ministry in the Chemung Methodist Church. He also held later pastorates in Martinsburg and in Greece, near Rochester, and in 1914 came to North Columbia as pastor of the community church.
  While at North Columbia, he served as president of the Methodist Protestant Conference for Central New York. Later he was pastor at South Butler near Oswego, but retired because of health and settled at North Columbia as a farmer.
  Although retired, he continued activity in church affairs and served as pastor of the Cedarville Church supply pastor for Paines Hollow, South Ilion and other area churches.
  In the ministry, Mr. Ridgeway married more than 400 couples and officiated at nearly 1,000 funeral services. He was a member of the West Winfield Masonic lodge. On Dec. 21, 1898, he married Carrie Fink at North Wolcot, who died 13 years ago.
  He leaves one daughter, Mrs. Frank Getman, of Mohawk; a brother, Clarence, of Oswego; four grandchildren, Mrs. Willard Teelin, Baraboo, Wis, Mrs. Lyle Mowers, North Columbia; Jack Ridgeway, Baldwinsville, and Catherine Jane Ridgeway, Oswego, also seven great grandchildren.
  (The obituary lists Clarence as Earl’s brother. He was actually his son, father of Jack and Catherine Ridgeway.-ELI)

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