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THE OBITUARY OFCharles Baetens |
Charles Baetens
In the presence of a large congregation of relatives and friends, including many prominent Council Bluffs and Omaha musicians, the funeral services over the body of the late Prof. CHARLES BAETENS, who took his life in Omaha Wednesday morning were held in St. Francis Xavier's Roman Catholic Church yesterday, Rev. Father Walsh officiating.
Burial took place in St. Joseph's Cemetery. The pallbearers were: Robert Cuscaden, Ernest Nordin, Sig. Lansberg and Thomas Kelley, all of Omaha; James Tullis and Theodore Larsen of Council Bluffs.
The services, like the life of the deceased, were simple. Except for the strains of the organ at the opening and close there was no music, and the services comprised merely the prayers, the ceremonial censing of the body and a brief address by the officiating priest.
Father Walsh took up in his address the comfort of religion in times of trial using as his text the words, "Come unto me, all ye that are wary and heavy-laden and I will refresh you." Emphasizing the fact that all men seek something above and beyond themselves, Father Walsh made a strong plea for the true service of God in human life on earth. "The pagan," he declared, "has turned time and time again to the things of this world, seeking some divinity, adoring now virtue, now vice. But all such seeking is but vanity. Vanity of vanities, all is vanity except the seeking for union with the true God, except the constant service of the true God. It is only the Christian religion that can sustain us in our trials as well as in our fortunes.
Burial Location: St. Joseph Cemetery, Section A, Row 36
(Charles Baetens-January 15, 1826-January 14, 1908)