Mayme Ord

Mayme Agnew Ord Resident Here 47 Years, Dies

Mayme Agnew Ord, 74, resident of this area since 1902, died here after an extended illness on Friday morning, January 27.

She was the wife of the late Robert Charles Ord and with him ranched in the Rawhide Buttes area for a number of years. The family came here from Lincoln, Neb. Mr. Ord and John and Grant Agnew purchased the famous Rawhide Buttes ranch from the late Russell Thorpe, Sr.

Funeral services were conducted Sunday afternoon from the Peet Chapel, with the Rev. Lawrence Juell pastor of the Congregational Christian Church, officiating.

Music was provided by the Congregational choir under the direction of Mrs. Dale Bardo and by a quartet composed of Mrs. William G. Watt, Mrs. I. J. Reiste, Rex Yocum and Dale Bardo. Mrs. Gerald Bardo was organist. The choir sang, "Let Not Your Heart Be Troubled," and the quartet, "Lead Kindly Light."

Interment was in the Lusk cemetery, where Mrs. Ord's husband and son, Robert, are laid. Honorary pallbearers were Henry Petz, Edward M. Arnold, Hans Gautschi, J. B. Griffith, T. A. Godfrey, and J. W. Wolfe. Active pallbearers were Sharon Chamberlain, Andrew McMaster, Robert Wolfe, Gerald Bardo, L. W. Bass and George Gibson.

BORN IN PENNSYLVANIA
Mrs. Ord was born June 22, 1875, in Bradford County Pennsylvania, the daughter of William and Lydia Wood Agnew. At the age of 14 she came with her parents and brothers to Marsland, Neb. where they resided on a ranch for about a year before moving too Chadron, Neb.

She was graduated from Chadron High School in 1893, and from the State Normal School at Peru in 1895. After teaching several years in the public schools of Chadron, she went to Nebraska Wesleyan to complete the work for her degree. It was there that she met Robert Charles Ord, a young professor who was head of the Department of Education.

They were married August 24, 1899, and made their home in Lincoln, Neb. In 1902 they came to Lusk, where Mr. Ord and Mrs. Ords' brothers, John and Grant Agnew, had purchased the Rawhide Buttes ranch.

Mrs. Ord often recalled that Russell Thorp, Jr. met them at the train in Lusk with the stage coach, now in the Lusk Museum. She rode outside on the coach across the fenceless prairie and into the beautiful hills that were to become her much-loved home. The senior Thorp had operated the Black Hills Stage Line, and though in 1902 it had ceased to operate, the coach was still good transportation.

For a number of years the post office at the Rawhide Buttes ranch continued to be operated by Mrs. Ord's father. In 1914 the ranch was divided between Mr. Ord and John Agnew, with Mr. Ord building a new home on the north portion and Mr. Agnew retaining the south.

LIVE IN OMAHA
About 1908 when the first of their four children were starting to school, the Ord's purchased a home in town on what is now East Third Street, and the family spent the winter in town. Then in 1916 a home was built in Omaha so the children could go to high school and college there, and until 1924 the family spent the winters there. In Omaha Mrs. Ord was active in Dundee Presbyterian Church.

Mr. and Mrs. Ord returned to the ranch until the accident there that caused his death on June 24, 1932. Coming to Lusk, Mrs. Ord was librarian at the Carnegie Library in 1935 and 1936.

In her younger days Mrs. Ord was an active worker in the church and Sunday school. She was a member of the Lusk Congregational Church, a charter member of Niobrara Chapter No. 26, Order of the Eastern Star, and a member of the Lusk Woman's Club and of the D.A.R.

Mrs. Ord is survived by her three daughters; Marjorie Ord Darrow, Gertrude Ord Chamberlain, and Jeanette Ord Sager; three grandsons, George Francis Darrow, Robert Ord Darrow, and Harry Charles Sager; and her brother, John W. Agnew.

A son, Robert, died in 1934 while a pre-med student at the University of Nebraska. A brother, Grant Agnew, also previously died.

George Darrow came here from Billings and Harry Sager from Laramie to be with the family. Mr. Agnew, who has been spending some of the winter in California returned Saturday.

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