[Obituary of Mrs. Sara Abbott Woods Perry Who Died Oct. 27, 1897]

[Obituary of Mrs. Sara Abbott Woods Perry who died Oct. 27, 1897]. MRS. SARA ABBOTT WOODS PERRY. Entered into the life eternal, on Wednesday morning, October 27, 1897, at the home of Mrs. William Bacon Stevens, 1914 Rittenhouse Square, Philadelphia, Sara Abbott Woods, the beloved wife of William Stevens Perry, Bishop of Iowa. Mrs. Perry was the youngest daughter of the late Rev. Thomas Mather Smith, D. D., for eighteen years Professor of Systematic Divinity in the Theological Seminary of the diocese of Ohio, at Gambier, and for several years President of Kenyon College, and Mary Greenleaf, daughter of the late Rev. Leonard Woods, D. D., Abbott Professor at the Andover (Mass.) Theological Seminary. She was descended, on her father's, as well as on her mother's side, from a long line of distinguished New England ancestors, and was, at the time of her decease, a member of the Massachusetts Society of Colonial Dames, and the President of the branch of this society established, largely through her exertions, in the non-colonial State of Iowa. She was born at Catskill, N. Y., August 13, 1836; and on January 15, 1862, was married in Rosse Chapel, Gambier, Ohio, by the then beloved bishop-coadjutor of the see, Dr. Gregory Thurston Bedell, to the Rev. William Stevens Perry, at that time rector of S. Stephen's Church, Portland, Maine. Nearly thirty-six years of most happy wedded life have proved that this union was owned and blessed of God. Mrs. Perry's married life was spent first in the city to which she went as a bride, and later at her husband's family home in Newton, Mass.; in Litchfield, Conn.; in Geneva, N. Y.; and in Davenport, Iowa, In the latter place she resided for the last twenty-one years of a most useful, honored, loving and beautiful life, the dispenser of a most gracious hospitality; the furtherer of her husband's plans LIBRARY OF CONGRESS, CITY OF WASHINGTON. for the development of the diocesan, educational, missionary, and philanthropic work committed to his care; the admired and beloved centre of an ever widening circle of devoted friends, and at the same time commending herself to all classes and conditions of men by loving words and deeds and kindly offices extended to all in need. But for her unobtrusive aid, her active and self-sacrificing cooperation, Saint Katharine's Hall, at Davenport, the diocesan school for girls, would never have survived the perils of its earliest years. Without her seconding with earnest efforts and personal labor, S. Luke's Hospital, Davenport, would still be a fond dream instead of being a noble reality. Shrinking as she did from notoriety even for well doing, suffering not her left hand to know the charities her right hand bestowed, her life has been faithful, devoted, loving, true. Gentle and attractive from her earliest days, universally beloved for the sweetness of her manner and the loveliness of her character, and winning the admiration and lasting regard of all who were brought within the reach of her personal magnetism—the notice of her all too early departure hence [Obituary of Mrs. Sara Abbott Woods Perry who died Oct. 27, 1897]. http://www.loc.gov/resource/rbpe01.01904700 will bring to many sympathizing mourners, both in this country and abroad, the conviction that life is the purer, sweeter, more worth the living for her blameless, beautiful life, and that the Paradise of God is the dearer now that her pure spirit is at rest with the Lord in the “palace-garden” of the heavenly home. Mrs. Perry returned from Europe with her husband and niece, passengers in the “Lucania,” reaching New York on October 23. She had been ill when on the continent, and it was in deference to her longing desire to return to her home that her medical advisers in London consented to her sailing. In God's loving mercy she was permitted to reach the home of her beloved aunt, Mrs. Stevens, in Philadelphia, where suddenly at the last, at a few moments before three o'clock on Wednesday morning, October 27, she “fell asleep.” Her end was peace. She died as she had lived, in love, in trust, in complete submission to the will of God. The parting from the loved ones left behind was that of a conquerer over death and sin. It was a triumphal entrance into the immortal life that was vouchsafed to her, and the peace of God which irradiated with its stately, splendid loveliness this sweet saint's face when life had passed seemed to be the seal of God attesting that the ransomed soul had seen the King in His beauty, and was satisfied. The burial took place on Friday, October 29. The services were at the home of Mrs. Stevens. The Bishop of Cairo, Ill., the Rev. Dr. Hale (formerly Dean of Davenport Cathedral), the Rev. Dr. William N. McVickar, Bishop-coadjutor elect of Rhode Island, and the Very Rev. Hamilton Schuyler, M.A., the present Dean of Davenport, were the officiating clergymen. The interment was in the consecrated grounds—God's acre—of the Church of S. James the Less, Philadelphia. The grave was filled with floral tributes sent from far and near by loving friends. She rests in Christ. “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.” From the “Churchman,” New York, November 13, 1897 . [Obituary of Mrs. Sara Abbott Woods Perry who died Oct. 27, 1897]. http://www.loc.gov/resource/rbpe01.01904700.

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