Hale Brubaker (part 2 - Obituary)

The Columbia City Post December 17, 1910

Although tempered in a small degree by the news that he was dangerously ill, the sad intelligence that M. Hale Brubaker had passed away in New York City Wednesday morning at 11:30 o'clock was a heavy burden for his parents, Mr. and Mrs. William Brubaker, of Troy township, to bear, and a source of sorrow to his any friends here. He was taken ill last week with a heavy cold which he contracted at the meeting of the Indiana society of New York, Friday, December 3. The cold deepened and last Friday evening developed into pneumonia.

When his condition was learned he was hurried to a New York hospital where he was attended by the foremost lung specialist in the city. Everything possible to human skill was done for the saving of his life. He was fortunate in the possession of several close college friends who were attending Columbia university with him and they gave him every attention and kept his parents and friends in the city informed. Leo C. Kelly, Lee McCanliss and R. M. Frink were Wabash college graduates who were closely attached to the deceased and they were at had to administer to his needs. Al C. Jennison, who is attending Harvard university and is also a Wabash man who new Mr. Brubaker, hastened to New York with the knowledge of his illness and was constantly at his bedside until the end.

The message from the young men to Mrs. Brubaker, sent Tuesday evening read: "Hale very low. Doctor says he is hardly holding his own. He recognized us both today. Crisis tomorrow (Wednesday). All depends on physical strength. (Signed) "Kelly and McCanliss."

With the knowledge that he was fighting against terrible odds the parents believed that he might recover but shortly after one o'clock Wednesday the word came to this city that he had passed away. No details as to the sending of the body were given. The time which intervened between the coming of the disease and the end was just five days.

Maurice Hale Brubaker was born to Mr. and Mrs. William Brubaker of Troy township, May 17, 1886, and died in New York City December 14, 1910, aged 24 years, 8 months and 27 days. He was a very brilliant boy and entered the high school in this city at the age of 13 years, after completing the common branches in his home township. In 1903 he graduated from the high school and for two years thereafter he was employed in this city on the Commercial-Mail and in the postoffice, where he performed his work in a thorough manner and taught school for one winter.

In the fall of 1905 he entered Wabash college where he completed the regular four year course in three years, winning membership in the Phi Beta Kappa honor fraternity for his excellence in scholarship. In addition to his ability as a student he distinguished himself as a leader of student enterprise, was instrumental in the organization of the press club and was a prominent member of one of the literary societies. At the conclusion of his college course he was awarded a scholarship in Columbia university. He accepted and entered the college of law, where he prosecuted his studies and at the same time carried enough outside work to largely support himself. He was associated with the Citizens' League of New York and with the Municipal Art League which was engaged in public charities on a large scale.

He was of untiring energy and never took up a responsibility that he did not discharge. He carried more work and did it easier than two average men in college and seemingly was never wearied. In that spirit he strove for an education, to fit himself thoroughly for his life's work. His years of life were crowded, though they were few, with duties and privileges, all of which tended to broaden him and to deepen his influence on those who knew him. Friends he had without number and they feel profoundly the loss that has come upon them personally. To the brother and the parents are extended the sincerest sympathy in their hour of grief.

Mr. Brubaker was a social member of the Modern Woodmen order, a member of Company G of the Indiana National guard for several years and was first lieutenant of the company at the time he resigned because of his duties in the east. He was not long away from the service however, for he joined the Naval Militia in New York and became acquainted with army life on the sea. He was a member of the Indiana society of New York and was intensely loyal to his mother state. In his last letter to his parents, in telling of the banquet of the society, he showed a warm feeling for Indiana and Whitley county. He was a member of the Baptist church in this city and at one time was the superintendent of the Sunday school there. He leaves his parents and one brother, C.R. Brubaker, of Traverse City, Michigan.

The following tribute is from The Bachelor, the Wabash College paper which he founded in his senior year, as published in the Columbia City Post.

About three years ago there was born into the mind of a man here at Wabash the plan for a Press Club. To that man, more than to any other individual, The Bachelor, which is the outcome of his plan owes its existence. Now that man is no more; and this paper, that may in a certain sense be looked upon as his, joins in sympathy with all who mourn his departure.

Maurice Hale Brubaker, a man with a mind and energy somewhat extraordinary. Keenness of conception and brilliance of execution were among the chief characteristics of his intellect and actions. All of his moments were busy ones. Into his life of twenty-four years he had contrived to crowd more real experience than is usually accorded to one so young. And who can say this was in vain? His future was a promising one. But just at the time immediately previous to his entering upon life's
realities, he was cut off from the living, taking with him his talent and his garnered experience and knowledge. Who would call this the irony of Fate? Let us rather regard it as the workings of a divine Providence, whose rules we know not, and whose will we can not understand.

The Funeral Service

Hundreds of people in city and county honor memory of brilliant and promising young man. The funeral of M. Hale Brubaker Sunday at the Baptist church was a most notable demonstration of the place the young man held in the heart of the people and the county for hundreds gathered to pay last tribute to his memory. A brief service was held at the Brubaker home in Troy township, where neighbors and friends had gathered, and at 9:15 the cortege left the homestead for the church in this city.

The seating capacity of the church was quickly exhausted and the Sunday school room was filled with friends while many were unable to gain entrance. Miss Martha Carter played the funeral march and the music was provided by a quartette composed of M.W. Landis, Mrs. Walter Eisaman, Mrs. Clarence Braddock and David Williamson. Hildreth Sharp, Ruby Hull, Mrs. Robert Garty, Lydia White and Mrs. Bert Clugsten, members of the high school class of which the deceased was a member, were in charge of the floral tributes. The profusion of these and the large number which were sent from New York attested to the extent to which Hale Brubaker had made friends wherever known in the short life he lived.

In his sermon Rev. J. F. Porterfield spoke from the text, "Perplexed, but Not in Despair." He felt that the same question was being asked by all concerning the death and that question was why a man of so much promise, a man who had proven his worth purely on the basis of his native qualities and who was just beginning to get into a position where he could enjoy the fruits of years of struggle, should be touched by the hand of death and called from life.

It is a hard matter to understand; it is not possible to explain it upon a logical basis. It is right and natural that such a question would arise, and it is not strange that there is perplexity in the minds of his many friends and relatives. The perplexity increases in considering that the young man had, in a few years, come into touch with the great movements for god and had himself been a powerful agent in pushing forward the cause for which he labored. The hymns chosen for the service were "Nearer my God to Thee," Rock of Ages," Abide with Me," and "Jesus, Lover of My Soul".