William H Willardt
| Date of Interment or Death | 10/15/1920 |
|---|---|
| Location | Old Fairview |
| Section | D |
| Block-Lot-Grave | 2-1-2n |
Obituary
Henry Willardt-1920
PIONEER WAHPETON BUSINESS MAN DEAD Despondent, Out of Funds, Henry H. Willardt Ends Life in St. Paul Hotel. – Funeral Here
Despondent because he was unable to obtain steady employment, without money, home or friends, and faced with the prospect of going blind. Henry H. Willardt former Wahpeton man, ended his life Thursday morning by putting a bullet into his brain.
The tragedy took place in a St. Paul hotel and death occurred a few hours later in the city and county hospital in that city. A week ago Willardt was in Wahpeton for the first time since he left it without warning more than twelve years ago. He was but a shadow of his former self, an aged, feeble, shabbily-dressed man who groped his way through the streets and struck pity from spectators who wondered at the despondency that characterized his expression.
Willardt came into Wahpeton on a morning train. It is not known where he kept himself through the day but shortly before noon he came into the New Meat Market and loitered about. He had been there several minutes before the proprietor, Frank Benda, entered and recognized Willardt as the man for whom he had worked some fifteen years before.
Willardt told Benda that he had been in Chicago most of the time since leaving Wahpeton. He had been employed as a watchman in a downtown store but had been discharged because of his age and inability to continue his duties because of failing eyesight.
Only one or two other old acquaintances recognized Willardt when he walked about the street that day. It is believed that the despondency resulting from his failure to meet with erty south of the city. Willardt’s body was sent from St. Paul to Wahpeton for burial. Funeral services were held from Schmitt & Olson’s funeral parlors Saturday afternoon. His widow, his two daughters, and his son, Arthur Willardt, Breckenridge railroad man, were present. Burial was in Fairview cemetery.
Headstone photograph(s)
Location
Old Fairview is located on the southern half of the cemetery grounds.