Nov 26, 1954
Mrs. Brenda McElhany Carithers,
49, native of Mt. Vernon and the wife of Arch T. Carithers, vice-president in charge of sales of Rexall Drug Co., Inc. died very suddenly late Wednesday (24 Nov 1954) afternoon at her home at 119 Abbott Road, Wellesley Hills, Mass.
Mr. Carithers found his wife dead in the bedroom of
their home upon his return home from the Rexall home
offices in Boston. She had not been acutely ill.
The deceased's most recent visit to her native Mt. Vernon was late last summer when she was called
here by the illness of her mother, Mrs. Minnie Mc Elhaney,
610
E. Fifth street.
Funeral and burial rites were conducted this afternoon at Newton, Mass. adjacent to Wellesley Hills, which is an
exclusive residential suburb of Boston.
Surviving in addition to the husband whose rise in the Rexall organization has been both rapid and meritorious,
are a 16 year old daughter, Jane; the mother in Mt. Vernon, and two sisters, Mrs.
John Hurley, Alhambra, Calif. and Miss Ruth Mc Ethlaney, Mt. Vernon.
Mrs. Carithers' father was the late Dr. E. Q. Mc Elhaney, a Mt. Vernon dentist and a musician from whom Mrs. Carithers in herited musical
talent that made her a very popular local cellist. She and two other
young women as the Neopolitan Trio filled a number of
professional engagements following her graduation from Mt. Vernon High school in 1923.
Mr. Carithers, the husband, is a native of Princeton, Ind. As a young man he was employed for
a number of years by the Fogas Drug Store in Mt. Vernon and it was during that period
that he met the charming local girl whom he married 25 y ears ago.
The deceased, with her husband and daughter, was a member of the Congregational
Church of Wellesley Hills and was prominent in social and musical circles of
the Boston suburban community.
In the early years of Mr. Carithers' association with
Rexall he and his family resided on the West Coast.
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Originally submitted by Betty Sellers