Mrs. Del Finer Rakestraw, 99, a familiar figure to passersby on North Eighth Street, and the oldest woman in Council Bluffs, died Tuesday morning at the home of her daughter, Mrs. John P. Minor, 1429 North Eighth Street, with whom she made her home. Mrs. Rakestraw was nearly blind, but found solace in her pipe, which she smoked almost continuously. She was able to get about a little and each day she walked up the street for about three blocks and returned. Mrs. Rakestraw came to this city twelve years ago, with her daughter's family, after they had lost everything in an Arkansas failure. They made the trip in a covered wagon. She was a native Montgomery County, Indiana.

The aged woman has three daughters, Mrs. Minor, 64 "the baby," with whom she lived; Mrs. Melissa Lame, 66, University Place, NE, and Mrs. Mary Anna Hunt, 68, of Nebraska City, NE. She also leaves two sisters, Mrs. Minerva Trimble of Eagle, NE, and Mrs. Martha Snyder of Indiana.

Mrs. Rakestraw had been ill for the past three weeks. Travelers on North Eighth Street were accustomed to seeing the aged woman sitting in front of her daughter's home enjoying her pipe.