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Rinehart - Laura

Source: Crawfordsville Journal Review 12 Sept 1961 p 2

WAVELAND-- Mrs. Laura Rinehart, 95, died at 2 p.m. Sunday in Culver Hospital at Crawfordsville. She had been seriously ill 15 days. Mrs. Rinehart, who had lived here since 1905, and was believed to have been the oldest resident of this community, was born Aug. 13, 1866 in Boone County. She was one of several children born to Robert S. and Mary Dooley Irwin and was the last survivor of the family. She married Wilder D. Rinehart Oct. 28, 1888 in Boone County. Mrs. Rinehart joined the Pleasant View Church near Lebanon at 16, and later moved to Waveland and became a member of the Methodist Church and WSCS. Her only survivors are a daughter, Mrs. Olive Myers of Waveland, and several nieces and nephews. Funeral services will be conducted at 1:30 p.m. Wednesday at the Machledt and Servies Funeral Home here. Rev. Fred Dean will be in charge. Interment will be in the Oak Hill Cemetery at Lebanon. Friends may pay their respects at the funeral home after 6 p.m. Tuesday. - kbz

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Source: Tri-County News Thursday, Aug 9, 1956

Once in a while in our lives, a period of 10 years may slip by rather quickly, rather uneventfully, but when you stack one such period on top of another you have 9 of them, then you have nine of them, then you have rolled together what amounts to "A heap of Livin'" if we may borrow the phrase from Edgar Guest. But that is the story in a nutshell of Laura Irwin Rhinehart of Waveland who will celebrate her 90th birthday this coming Monday Aug 13. Mrs. Rhinehart who makes her home with her son-in-law and daughter, Mr. and Mrs. Fred Myers was born those many years ago near Lebanon in Boone Co. Her childhood was productive of many events which still bring pleasant reminiscences to mind, such as trips she made by railroad with her father to Indianapolis to attend the State Fair. There she saw the latest innovations in agricultural implements just as the fair-goer can see them today, but many of the "late" developments Laura saw such as the threshing machine, have in turn given way before even newer developments in harvesting machinery. She also remember going to the Capital building when it was in the process of construction and mule-drawn streetcars in the Indianapolis streets. After her marriage to Wilder Rhinehart, Laura went to housekeeping in a log cabin which boasted also a lean-to kitchen. Here she remembers how she once roasted and then ground their own coffee supply and she can still smell the odor of burned coffee which occurred too often to dampen the spirits of a young budget-minded housewife. But Wilder Rhinehart didn't like farming and after a few years go at it he went into railroading where he remained until his retirement as a conductor on the Midland RR, later called the Central Indiana RR, in 1934. Mr. Rhinehart died in 1937. The Rhineharts moved to Waveland in 1905 and the community was bustling with activity as the still - new railroad enterprise and its roundhouse accounted for many of the dollars which made their way into Waveland trade channels. Many of the older residents in this area worked for the Midland at some time or other Charley Hayes familiar figure about town, once worked as a fireman on a train on which Mr. Rhinehart served as conductor. Mrs. Rhinehart has been a member of the Waveland Methodist Church for nearly 50 years and is the oldest living person on the rolls of the Pleasant View church in Boone county which she attended as a girl.

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