DIED

In Bishop, California, November 8, 1915, Mrs. Adaline Chalfant, a native of Iowa, aged 74 years, 9 days.

The funeral services were held yesterday afternoon, at the family home.  Rev. J. W. Huston delivered a sermon 
appreciative of her nobility of character, and a choir of friends rendered fitting music.  At the Masonic 
cemetery, the beautiful service of the Eastern Star, appropriate in its tribute as if written for her, was 
given by Mt. Whitney Chapter, in which organization she served as Chaplain for twelve terms.  Profuse floral 
pieces and tributes testified to the esteem in which she was held.

Duty is not merciful to aching hearts.  Though each sentence brings a fresh pang, something must be written 
in memory of one who has gone to the highest reward of the unknown future.  God rest her dear soul, and 
bestow upon her that which her beautiful life merits!

Adaline, daughter of James and Sarah Slater, was born in West Point, Lee county, Iowa, October 30, 1841.  In 
her young womanhood the family moved westward.  The father died during the tedious journey across 
"the plains;" his widow and children reached Idaho and remained near Boise City for some time.  Among those 
with whom they became acquainted there was Pleasant Arthur Chalfant, a Forty-Niner who had started from 
California for the then latest mining excitement, at Florence, Idaho.  Miss Slater was married to him 
March 14, 1867.  They established a home on Indian creek, a tributary of Snake river, where the husband went 
into the lumber business.  Indians were troublesome and depredations frequent, and the dangers of the region 
led to the removal of the little family, about two years later, to Suisun, California.  In the spring of 1870, 
they came to Independence, where Chalfant & Parker established the Inyo Independent.  There the children 
except the eldest of the family were born, and there two little sons and a daughter - two of them in one 
month - were taken away by death.  In 1885 the family came to Bishop, which has since been the home.  Here in 
one sad year, the husband and father, a daughter, Agnes, and the aged mother, Mrs. Slater, were taken away.  
The surviving members, in order of age, are W. A. Chalfant, Mrs. George A. Clarke, of Bishop, Mrs. W. D. 
Nelligan, of Yerington, and Miss Blanche Chalfant, County Librarian of Plumas county, with headquarters at 
Quincy.

To lift for a moment an intimate veil, under circumstances imposing truth as a sacred requirement: Never was 
there more perfect home life.  None of their children ever heard a harsh word between the parents.  It was 
truly "the sphere of harmony and peace; the spot where angels found a resting place."  None need except to 
this recalling of tender memories of a home filled with something that mere wealth cannot buy, or measure, or 
measure; of a father whose uprightness was its outward strength; of a mother whose presence was its constant 
benediction.

On Wednesday of last week Mrs. Chalfant was indisposed, but not enough to cause uneasiness except because of 
her physical frailty.  Two days later pneumonia had developed.  Unremitting attention availed nothing.  
Monday afternoon she passed to "the other side of Jordan, 'mid the green fields of Eden," to quote the words 
of an old song that oft came from her lips in the long ago, as perhaps in her loving arms some childish grief 
was soothed, or before a good night kiss was put upon a little brow.

Her final days were a link between the world we know and the one into which her vision looked.  The first, 
because not even fever's delirium kept her from thinking of the welfare of those about her; the second, 
because across the border she saw the faces of loved ones gone before, said she would not call them back, and 
assured them that she would soon come.

She was a member of the Methodist church, but profession of Christianity was its least manifestation with her.  
She lived it hourly.

Her character embodied faith - a courage that sustained and gave her courage when loved ones were torn from 
her arms; hope that foretold a reunion; and charity, of that supreme quality that "suffereth long and is kind, 
envieth not, thinketh no evil, rejoiceth in the truth."  No sacrifice was too great for her to make for a 
loved one or a worthy purpose.  No one's path was made rougher by a word or deed of hers.  None might be so 
erring that she could not find some good to say for them if the occasion arose.  She was thoughtful, kind, 
gentle in the extreme; pure gold.  "Were every one for who she did a loving service to bring a blossom to her 
grave, she would sleep tonight beneath a wilderness of flowers."  Her place is secure in the kindly memory of 
every one who knew her, as it is sacred in the hearts of those who mourn her most.  The world is the better 
for her having lived in it, not only for what she did but also for her influence.  She "being dead, yet 
speaketh."  Thank God for her memory!  Were all other appeals to faith to be lost, her life and her confidence 
would still point us heavenward.

Despoiling hand took wheat from Egyptian tombs, planted and nourished it, and brought forth leaves and grain.  
The vital principle survived through four thousand years of cold and darkness.  Thought the vine "clings to 
the moldering wall," we known that the beneficient smiles of spring will assure it fresh brightness.  Dews of 
summer and frosts of winter alike vanish, only to take other forms.  Knowing that inanimate matter can never 
perish, shall we think that the mind shall become as nothing after a brief tenancy of these houses of clay?  
Or that the insensate grain, prisoned while civilizations rise and fall, has in it vitality denied to the 
highest creation of the Infinite?  No, never!  And so with fullest confidence we say, "Blessed are the dead 
who die in the Lord," knowing that our loved one "has but passed	Beyond the mists that bind us ere	
Into that new and larger life		Of that serener sphere."

The Inyo Register, Bishop, Inyo County, California
November 11, 1915 - Page Five
Transcribed by Denise S. Flynn