Butler County Genealogy Trails Kansas Edward H Pattison Bio

BUTLER COUNTY'S EIGHTY YEARS BIOS

EDWARD H. PATTISON

(Transcribed by Lori DeWinkler)

EDITORIAL ANTHOLOGY

These editorials are selected from The El Dorado Times files as typical of the hundreds of editorials unequalled in charm and delineation of character, that have been written by Rolla A. Clymer and published in The Times during the past fifteen years:

“ED” PATTISON

In the structure of every community, as in the structure of en edifice, there must be parts that lend to ornateness and grace, and there must be parts that afford utility and strength. Edward H. Pattison—whose death came with appalling suddenness. Monday night—was of the latter designation in the structure that is El Dorado. A rugged man was he, square of body and square of mind, practical in his bent, calm—even brusque in manner—but, like all great-hewed timbers, accustomed to bearing heavy burdens without complaint and without yielding. The story of his service in the town where he lived for over forty years shall never be written; it was buried deep in his nature, and subject no more to display than the sturdy joists and uprights in the finished building. To the world he was a man of granite mien; to those favored few who were vouchsafed a glimpse into his spirit, he had the heart of a little child. Kindness animated his being, but his kindnesses were performed modestly, his left hand knew not what his right had performed—and this quality is all too rare. He was practical and direct in his dealings, meticulous to a penny’s worth—but always just, always honest, and always emphasizing by example the saving grace of work.

Men like these are never found in the “rocket’s red glare.” They are never found on the list of speakers at the banquet table, never seated on the platform at convocations of their fellows, never in the van of gay processions that move through crowded and flag-bedecked streets. But somehow they contribute mightily to the workaday tasks of a community, and in their own mute, effective and solitary way comprise the girders of a community’s strength.

“Ed” Pattison is gone. But we who knew the kindness and nobility that flowed deeply and abundantly in his great, grave, bluff soul shall increasingly miss him.—March 27, 1924.