Person Page 4,928

Obituary -- The Wichita Eagle, Wichita, Kansas; Sunday, 27 MAR 1955, p.10 (Newspapers.com):

Jesse J. Garst, Resident of Area Since 1909, Dies

Jesse J. Garst, 60, Rt. 8, died Saturday in St. Francis Hospital.

A retired truck farmer, Mr. Garst had lived south of Wichita since 1909.

Born July 11, 1894, in Jonesborough Tenn. Mr. Garst was a member of West Side Christian Church.

Survivors include two sisters, Mrs. Pearl Herrmann, Oklahoma City and Julia Garst of the home, and two brothers, Paul C. Garst Sr., Pratt, Kan.; and Thomas C. Garst of the home.

Funeral arrangements will be announced by Downing Mortuary.

per SSDI, last residence Naperville, DuPage County, Illinois.Obituary -- (via Findagrave.com):

The Wichita Eagle, Sunday, May 17, 1992

Garst, Anna Josephine, 80, of Oswego, Ill., formerly of Wichita, retired Veterans Administration Hospital diet aide, died Saturday, May 16, 1992. Private service will be held.

Survivors: son, Thomas C. Garst, III, of Northridge, Calif.; daughter, Jo S. Ott of Oswego, Ill.; brother, Arthur Cleveland of Shreveport, La.; four grandchildren; six great-grandchildren. Memorial has been established with Fox Valley Hospice, 113 East Wilson Street, Batavia, Ill. 60510. McKeown-Dunn Funeral Home Ltd.

Obituary -- (Findagrave.com):

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Julia E. "Judy" Millham, born March 22, 1921 in Washington D.C., to Errett J. and Claudia Covington Garst, died peacefully of congestive heart failure on Tuesday, Nov. 8, 2005 in Nashville, Tenn., surrounded by her family.

Judy was preceded in death by her husband, Merle P. Millham, and son ,Steven D. Millham. Raised in Wichita, Kan., Judy had amazing musical talent from an early age. She held her first church organist position at the age of 14. Over her long musical career she studied and taught organ, piano and voice, privately and in public schools, and accompanied many singers, in addition to singing herself. In her later years, she took several trips to New York City for music and tours with the Metropolitan Opera Guild for opera in places such as Russia and England. She also traveled with friends down the Amazon River, making a pilgrimage to Buenos Aires to visit the church where memorial services had been held for her son, Steven, when he died there during a business trip in 1981. Judy's love of music followed her to the end, as she took her last breaths during the final strains of the beautiful "Meditation" from the opera Thai.

Judy and Merle were married at Albrook Field Chapel in the Panama Canal Zone on Sept. 15, 1944, and over nearly 40 years of marriage lived in McComb and Findlay, Ohio, and Aiken. Judy loved attention to detail in all things, and also worked as a bookkeeper, partnering with Merle in their Aiken printing business, Manor Press. After Merle's death in 1984, Judy lived in Dayton, Ohio for a few years, but returned to Aiken to live near her friends until declining health took her to Nashville, Tenn., to be near her granddaughters. Judy and Merle felt that they had been given interesting and useful lives. They thanked the Lord for wonderful family and friends.

Judy is survived by her daughter and son-in-law, Martha (Mert) and Wade Adams of Houston, Texas, and her granddaughters Julie Adams and Keri Adams of Nashville, Tenn., and Julie's husband Richard Smith. Also surviving is Judy's daughter-in-law, Mary Elam Millham Rodriguez of Maple Glen, Pa.

A memorial service will be held at St. John's United Methodist Church in Aiken at 10 a.m. on Monday, Jan. 30, 2006. Interment at Bethany Cemetery in Aiken, South Carolina by George Funeral Home. Memorial gifts may be sent to the Organ Fund, St. John's United Methodist Church, P.O. Box 809, Aiken SC 29802.

Obituary -- The State, Columbia, South Carolina; Tuesday, 13 JAN 1981, p.19 (Newspapers.com):

STEVEN D. MILLHAM

AMBLER, Pa. -- Steven Dana Millham, 31, died Thursday in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Born in Findlay, Ohio, he was a son of Merle P. and Mrs. Julia E. Millham. He was a graduate of the University of South Carolina with a master's degree in international business. In Buenos Aires, he was the Argentinean auditor for the General Refractories Co. of Bala Cynwyd, Pa.

Surviving are his widow, Mrs. Mary E. Millham; his parents of Aiken, S.C.; a sister, Mrs. Martha J. Adams of Fairborn, Ohio; and two nieces.

Memorial services will be held at 6 p.m. Friday at St. John's United Methodist Church at Aiken.

The family suggests that those who wish may make memorials to the Memorial Fund, Georgia-Carolina Council of the Boy Scouts of America, 1252 Gordon Park Road, Augusta, Ga. 30901.

Obituary -- (Findagrave.com):

JULIA LOUISE HERRMANN EDWARDS Principal harpist with DSO for 24 years, 'exceptional teacher'

The harp caught Julia Louise Herrmann Edwards' eye as she began college at the University of Oklahoma, where her forte was piano.

After receiving her bachelor's degree at OU, she went to Chicago for private studies, which helped her win a scholarship to the Juilliard School of Music.

In 1953, she was named principal harpist for the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, a post she held for 24 years. She was also an adjunct harp professor at Southern Methodist University for 26 years.

Mrs. Edwards, 84, died July 18 of natural causes at Walnut Place, where she had lived since 2001. Services were July 21 in Dallas, where she was buried in Hillcrest Memorial Park.

Mrs. Edwards' many students include Jill Roberts-Levy of Dallas, a musician who sometimes plays with the Fort Worth Symphony. Ms. Roberts-Levy was 7 years old when she began taking lessons from Mrs. Edwards. The lessons continued through high school, when Ms. Roberts-Levy left for the Eastman School of Music at the University of Rochester.

"She was an exceptional teacher," Ms. Roberts-Levy said. "She had an infinite amount of patience."

Mrs. Edwards was dedicated to the arts. She often donated performances, supporting causes and entertaining nursing-home residents.

"Her passion was the harp," Ms. Roberts-Levy said.

Ms. Roberts-Levy's parents became close friends with Mrs. Edwards. For the past 10 years, Sharon Roberts and M.O. Roberts helped Mrs. Edwards manage her affairs.

Mrs. Edwards was known throughout much of her career by her maiden name, Herrmann.

That changed on Dec. 20, 1976, when Mrs. Edwards married her high school sweetheart, Lt. Col. Roy "Jack" Edwards, a retired Marine. Jack Edwards and his wife-to-be had gone their separate ways when she graduated from Juilliard. Before they reunited, he had married, had a career in the Marines and divorced.

When Mr. Edwards located his high school sweetheart in Dallas, he wrote her a letter to revive their relationship. He didn't get an immediate reply.

"It got lost in her front yard," Ms. Roberts-Levy said. "She found it weeks after he sent it. They always joked about it, but she did eventually find the letter in her bushes."

Mr. Edwards died in 2003.

Mrs. Edwards was born in Oklahoma City and received her bachelor's degree in piano from the University of Oklahoma in 1944.

She continued to study the harp, focusing on the instrument for a year in Chicago, before attending Juilliard, where she earned a pair of two-year degrees, Ms. Roberts-Levy said.

From 1949 to 1953, she taught harp and piano at OU. She also was a regular performer on local radio and television programs.

In January 1953, she became principal harpist with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra.

In Dallas, Mrs. Edwards had a private harp studio and taught at Texas Woman's University and the institution now called the University of North Texas.

From 1956 to 1965, she taught and performed with the Chautauqua Symphony and Opera Orchestra in Chautauqua, N.Y.

She also played with the State Fair Musicals and for performances at the Dallas Museum of Art.

In 1963, Mrs. Edwards founded and was the first president of the Dallas Chapter of the American Harp Society.

Mrs. Edwards kept meticulous records of her life and career. Her papers will be donated to the National Archives of the American Harp Society in Salt Lake City.

Mrs. Edwards leaves no immediate survivors.

Memorials may be made to the American Harp Society in Dallas, 10417 Waterview Parkway, Rowlett, Texas 75089.

Obituary -- (Findagrave.com):

Jess D. Garst, 73, died Sept. 3, 2002, at Hospice Residential Care Center, Hutchinson. He was born Sept. 12, 1928. A Hutchinson resident since 1962, moving from Pratt, he was a district material lab chief for the Kansas Department of Transportation, retiring in 1989.

He was a veteran of the U.S. Navy Sea Bees, serving during the Korean War.

A memorial service will be held at 11 a.m. Friday at Northminster Presbyterian Church, Hutchinson. A private family burial will be held at the Hardtner Cemetery, Hardtner. Friends may sign the register from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Thursday at Elliott Mortuary, Hutchinson.

Survivors include: two sons, Kurt, Omaha, Neb., and Kent, Wichita.

Memorials may be sent to the church, in care of the mortuary.

The Pratt Tribune. September 5, 2002.