Sunday forenoon, the 30th of June 1907, our dear brother, August Bletsch, at his home in Norwood near Cincinnati suddenly died from a heart attack.  His daughter was at the time in the public worship service in our German church in Walnut Hills, but his dear spouse was at his side as he sat in a chair and unexpectedly bowed his head and departed. Brother Bletsch suffered from a weak heart and since his serious illness last winter had to protect himself from swift movement and great strain, with great care. It was necessary in the last times, to be taken by carriage from his house to the street car in order to go to town, and since one week before his end, he had not been to the book firm. Still we hardly suspected that as we saw him last at his desk and spoke to him, that his last days on earth were near. We will miss his presence and his voice sorely. Since nearly 35 years, Brother Bletsch has been German bookkeeper controller (comptroller) of the Western Book Firm and was the overseer of the subscription lists for the German church publications (The Christian Apologete, House and Hearth, etc.) For 23 years, more than three-fifths of this time, we came in practically daily contact with him. Yes, hardly a day went by that we did not have to go to the counting room because of letters that belonged in his department, but had been addressed to the editor, to give to him. During all this time there existed the most congenial relations between him and us. He took the most active part in the work of subscriptions for the Apologete and the House and Hearth. This was his department where he was fully at home. How he rejoiced when the lists looked good and the number of subscribers increased, but when they went down it was a matter of great concern, as if he himself were answerable. How often we consulted his long years of experience before we considered this or that change in the publication of the Apologete. If we lacked at times an address then we need only run to Brother Bletsch. It would surely be on the list of the Apologete subscriptions and there we would soon find it. Brother Bletsch performed many other jobs in this work. Never have we seen him in a surly or angry mood. He was friendliness itself. Faithful and knowledgeable, he did his tasks and was generally loved in the "Counting Room." Our German preachers in the Central German Conference whose correspondence matters for so many years he took care of, will also feel that they have lost a friend, whom they did not often see, but all learned to love and respect.

     The funeral took place Wednesday forenoon, the 3rd of July in his former home, conducted by Rev. Karl Koch, in the absence of his son who is the pastor for the Walnut Hill congregation, that  Brother Bletsch was a member of. It was the earnest wish of our departed brother and his spouse that at the mourning worship service there should be no eulogies spoken, and so the ritual of the church was restricted to a sincere prayer by Rev. J. C. Wurster and a short departure reading given by his brother Rev. Jakob Bletsch of the Chicago German Conference, although this man did express some words of sincere and loving acknowledgments with regard to the Christian witness that the departed left behind. Next to the attending German preachers, there were numerous deputations from the Book firm among the mourners. Six young girls dressed in white, members of his Sunday School class, served as coffin-bearers. In this work in the Sunday School Brother Bletsch had found great joy and had accomplished worthy tasks. The burial was in Highland God's Acre near Covington, Kentucky.

     Brother August Bletsch was born on 16th of June, 1840 of Catholic parents in Waldorf, Baden. He lost his father before his birth and his mother in his first year of life. As a 13-year old lad he traveled with his three brothers and one sister to America and already in the next year he was in the First German Methodist Church in Cleveland, Ohio, under Brother P. F. Schneider simultaneously with his brother Jakob Bletsch, at the same prayer altar converted. Not long after that he came to Chicago and found work in the branch office of our book firm. In the year 1872, he came at the invitation of Dr. Hitchcock to Cincinnati, to take up the position vacated by the death of Gottlob Rast, in which position he served until his end. In the year 1861, he married Johanna Auguste Fathauer. This marriage was blessed with seven children of which five have preceded their father into eternity. Besides the beloved spouse, the bereaved are his son, William Bletsch of Chicago, and one daughter, Etta who is with the mother at home, and a great number of friends. Brother Bletsch was formerly a probationer-preacher in the Central German Conference and had held a Local Preacher's License. In this he served the Lord as often as the occasion arose and found joy in it. His memory remains in blessing. Quiet and unassuming was his manner. He had a sympathetic heart and was a liberal giver, who did not let his left hand know what his right hand did.

(This is a translation from Der Christliche Apologete made by Mrs. J. L. Konz, wife of the Lutheran Minister in Marlin and a good friend of Laura B. Kendrick.)

     Wm. E. Bletsch, lay delegate of the Chicago German Conference, was on 13 of September 1866 in Allegheny, Pa. born. His father was at that time a German Methodist preacher. His finishing education he received in the public school in Covington, Ky. and since 1888, he became a member of the Methodist Church. From 1888 to 1891 he was a bookkeeper in the Methodist Book Concern in Cincinnati and here he laid the foundation for his occupational development. Since 1891, he was a partner in the firm of "Pilker and Bletsch" in Chicago. A branch firm is to be found in Cincinnati. He was a member of the Centennial Congregation in Chicago and a great interest in the advancement of the kingdom of God in his day.

(This is a translation from Der Christliche Apologete made by Mrs. J. L. Konz, wife of the Lutheran Minister in Marlin and a good friend of Laura B. Kendrick.)

A copy of each of these written in German and the translation was sent to my father by his Aunt Laura.