Skip to main content

Funeral Card Friday: Chester Wiker, Sr

Chester Wiker, Sr. is my great aunt Katie’s (Katie Ruczhak Wiker) late husband. His funeral card was among my late cousin’s papers so I thought I would share it today.
His funeral card is one of those that is folded like an actual card.

The front is an image of Christ and simply says “In Memoriam.” The back identifies the funeral home, which in his case was the Robert A Harris Funeral Home, in Coatesville. The inside left is the Twenty-Third Psalm.

On the right is his information:
In Memory of
Chester P. Wiker, Sr.

Born
March 28, 1917
Nickel Mines, Pennsylvania

Passed Away
October 13, 1994
Coatesville, Pennsylvania

Final Resting Place
Romansville United Methodist Cemetery

Services from
Olivet United Methodist Church
3rd Ave. & Chestnut Street
Coatesville, Pennsylvania

Saturday, October 15, 1994 at 1 p.m.

Officiating
The Reverend J. George Mamourian

Funeral conducted by
The Robert A Harris Funeral Home
Coatesville, Pennsylvania


Romansville is a beautiful little rural community in West Bradford Township in Chester County. The graveyard is the oldest Methodist cemetery in Chester County, according to Futhey & Cope’s The History of Chester County, Pennsylvania with Genealogical and Biographical Sketches. The graveyard dates back to 1811.

He was born in Nickel Mines, which is a hamlet (not even a village anymore) located in Bart Township, Lancaster County. It gets its name from the area mines which are abundant for nickel. The idea of today’s five cent piece – the nickel – was suggested by Joseph Wharton who bought the mine back in 1862 … but that is another story for another day!


Funeral Card Friday is a genealogical prompt of GeneaBloggers.


© Jeanne Ruczhak-Eckman, 2016

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Coatesville's First Serial Killer

Young Alexander Meyer was a disturbed and angry young man with some major issues. He had failed sixth and seventh grade, and instead of having to repeat eighth grade again, he finally gave up on school. At age 16 he quit Downingtown Junior High. Meyer is not a relative, nor are his victims (that I am aware). I stumbled upon young Alex while reading Tortured Minds: Pennsylvania's Most Bizarre - But Forgotten - Murders by Tammy Mal. On 11 February 1937 Alexander Thweatt Meyer killed young Helen Moyer as she walked home from school in Coatesville along Modena Road. She was not his first. The jury was out only three minutes after hearing Dr. Michael Margolis' testimony on the death of Helen Moyer. The jury determined Meyer had murdered Moyer and should be held for first degree murder. The jury also condemned the parole system which had released Meyer back into the public, after having served just 14 months in Huntingdon Reformatory, for the murder of two other girls - Anna Blasc...

Thaddeus Stevens at the Lancaster Convention Center

Within the Lancaster Convention Center (Lancaster, PA) is a small section dedicated to Thaddeus Stevens and Lydia Hamilton Smith. The section is known as the Stevens & Smith Historic Site. It is scheduled for development this year. At the moment one can only get a glimpse of it through the Convention Center or by peeking in from the outside. Here at Queen and Vine Streets in Lancaster City, Pennsylvania, Thaddeus Stevens had his law office. Stevens was an abolitionist. An abolitionist is a person who favors the abolition of a practice or institution, especially capital punishment or (formerly) slavery. Stevens was born 4 April 1792 to Joshua Stevens and Sarah (Sally) Morrill in Danville Vermont. One of four children, he attended Vermont University from 1810 to 1812 when the War prompted its closure. He then went to Dartmouth, where he graduated in 1814. He then studied law and found himself set up in Gettysburg, PA in 1816. He practiced law there until 1828 when he...

52 Ancestors: Remembering the King

Today is Elvis’ birthday. He would have been 80 today.   I was only eight when he died so obviously I am too young to have seen Elvis perform. However, when I hear his music, I go back in time. I am once again that young girl dancing in the living room to Elvis and other greats with my father. Back then girls learned to dance by dancing with their fathers not some video of scantly dressed people doing all sorts of things young ladies should not be doing in public!      What is YOUR favorite memory - either of your father or of Elvis?   52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks is a weekly genealogical challenge issued by Amy Johnson Crow, of No Story Too Small . Look for my weekly posts each Thursday!   © Jeanne Ruczhak-Eckman, 2015