CHELAN, Fred - Fountain County INGenWeb Project

Veedersburg - Rev. Fred Chelan, 80-year-old retired minister, died about 5 p.m. Wednesday in Community Hospital at Williamsport. He had been seriously ill several days and hospitalized one day. A graduate of Valparaiso University, he served several Christian churches in this area and in California. Churches which he served in this area included those at Campbell's Chapel, East Liberty, Bloomingdale and Attica. From 1933 until 1956 he was also employed as a clerk at the Veedersburg Post Office. Born Sept. 1, 1886, at Wingate, he was a son of Charles and Amanda Gressmire Chelan. He was married to Edith Gressmire, who survives. Other survivors are a foster son, Dallas Trinkle of Corbin, Ky., and a brother, Charles Chelan, a patient in Veterans Hospital at Marion. Funeral services will be conducted at 3:30 p.m. Friday at the First Christian Church here with Rev. James Dyson officiating. Interment will be in Rockfield Cemetery. Friends may pay their respects at the Parham Funeral Home here.

Veedersburg, Ind. - The Rev. Fred Chelan, 80, a retired Christian Church minister and postal clerk, died at 4 p.m. yesterday (Jan. 11, 1967) at the Williamsport Community Hospital. He had been a patient there one day and in failing health several months. Born Sept. 1, 1886, in Wingate, he was the son of Charles and Amanda Gressmire Chelan. He was married to Edith Gressmire, who survives. The Rev. Mr. Chelan graduated from Valparaiso University and had served churches in Campbell Chapel, East Liberty, Bloomingdale and Attica. He also had served several in California. He had been a postal clerk in the Veedersburg Post Office from 1933 to 1956. Other survivors include a foster son, Dallas Trinkle of Corbin, Ky.; and a brother, Charles of Marion, Ind. Services will be at 3:30 p.m. Friday at the Veedersburg First Christian Church. The Rev. James Dyson will officiate. Burial will be in Rockfield Cemetery. The body is at the Parham Funeral Home. The Rev. Fred Chelan, 80-year-old retired Veedersburg minister, died at about 5 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 11, in the Community Hospital in Williamsport. He had been seriously ill several days and hospitalized one day. A graduate of Valparaiso University, he served several Christian churches in this area and in California. Churches in this area which he served included Campbell's Chapel, East Liberty, Bloomingdale and Attica. From 1933 to 1956 he also was employed as a clerk at the Veedersburg Post Office. The Rev. Chelan was born Sept. 1, 1886, at Wingate, the son of Charles and Amanda Gressmire Chelan. He was married to Edith Gressmire, who survives. Surviving, in addition to the wife, are: a foster son, Dallas Trinkle of Corbin, Ky,; and one brother, Charles Chelan, a patient in the Veterans Hospital in Marion. Funeral services were conducted at 3:30 p.m. Friday at the First Christian Church in Veedersburg. Burial, with the Parham Funeral Home of Veedersburg in charge, was in Rockfield Cemetery, southeast of Veedersburg. I wish to thank everyone who was so kind during the illness and death of my husband, Fred Chelan. Each thoughtful gesture was sincerely appreciated. Mrs. Edith Chelan

For Fred, the problems of life have ended. Sixty years ago he married my oldest sister and became a loved and respected member of the Trinkle family. To please Mae, he gave up a promising law practice and studied for the ministry. This was the type of unselfish devotion that characterized their entire married life. Fred was raised on a farm near Wingate. There he learned that there was real dignity in honest work. In the classrooms at Valparaiso this farm boy started his formal education. There he earned his law degree and received his special training for the ministry. For Fred, the process of education never stopped. During his productive years he read, wrote, and preached. He taught the philosophy of life that he lived and truly believed. I knew Fred as few others have. As a youth I fished with him on the banks of the San Joaquin River. We hunted in the vineyards of that valley. We climbed the Sierra Nevada Mountains together. He helped me unravel the mysteries of life and set for me a standard for honesty, kindness, and sincerity that is truly worth emulating. At Hagerstown, Indiana; Chandler, Arizona; Clovis and Manteka, California, and other churches where he preached he demonstrated a rare talent for understanding and helping all kinds of people. He was a respected leader in every community where he lived and was a strong advocate of religion that improves human behavior. I watched him prepare his sermons and listened to every word in awed admiration of his logic and oratory. Fred had the astute mind that could study the theories and philosophies of mankind without becoming lost among the words. He seemed to understand the true motives, interests, and aspirations of people better than anyone I have ever known. I lived with Mae and Fred during the last two years of my sister's life. As she lingered, strange things happened to Fred, a vital part of him went into the grave with her. Since Fred came back here to live, many of you have known him. Deprived of his hearing and sight he has lost contact with the people he knew and loved. New stands on the brink of eternity. If ever a mortal was prepared for that unknown realm beyond the grave, that man is our beloved brother Fred Chelan.

Dallas Ray Trinkle