Augustus W. Fite, Jr. Died Suddenly in Oklahoma Monday Morning (1923)

Without a struggle, without a sigh.

He died in Oklahoma, but the body was brought home to Cartersville, Georgia for burial in Oak Hill Cemetery.

Tribune-News (Cartersville, Georgia)

5 April 1923

FITE'S BODY BROUGHT HERE FOR INTERMENT

Former Well-Known Citizen, And Son of Distinguished Jurist, Died Suddenly in Muskogee Monday Morning.

Funeral services for Augustus W. Fite, Jr., thirty nine years old, were conducted Thursday morning at 10:30 o'clock, at the home of his mother, and interment took place immediately afterward at Oak Hill cemetery. The services were conducted by Rev. T. R. Kendall, and were attended by a large number of friends of the family and of Mr. Fite's boyhood days.

The pall bearers were Messrs. J. M. Smith, J. M. Conyers, T. W. Simpson, John T. Norris, C. H. Griffin, B. L. Vaughan. The local funeral arrangements were in charge of G. M. Jackson & Sons.

Died Suddenly.

Mr. Fite's death occurred suddenly at Muscogee, Oklahoma, where he had made his home for a number of years. While he had not been in good health during recent months, he was able to attend to business matters, and Sunday he was seemingly in good spirits. Monday morning, when he failed to come to breakfast, Mrs. N. E. McGuire, with whom he boarded, went to his room to see if he was ill, and found him dead, heart failure being given as the cause.

His family in Cartersville was notified immediately, and plans were made to bring the body here. Mrs. McGuire, who was a sister of the late Charlie Howard, who died here last Saturday afternoon, and Mr. Bartow Fite, Jr., a cousin of the deceased, accompanied the remains from Oklahoma, the body reaching Cartersville Wednesday morning at 5:45. Funeral services were delayed pending the arrival of Commander Conyers Fite, who reached here Wednesday night.

He was a son of the late Judge Augustus W. Fite, who died suddenly in Cartersville on Christmas Day, 1919. His mother, two sisters, Misses Flore and Sarah Fite, and three brothers, Commander Conyers Fite, U.S.N., Washington, D.C., Mr. Lindsay Fite, of Cartersville, and Mr. Joel Fite, of Philadelphia, survive.

The deceased was born in Cartersville July 5th, 1883, and spent his boyhood here, where he is remembered by many for his genial, sunny disposition. As a young man, he attended Emory University and Georgia Tech, and then entered business, first in Atlanta, and later going to Oklahoma where he has resided for the past ten or fifteen years.

His sudden death is deplored, and his family is receiving the sympathy of the entire community, which has attested its feeling in the sending of many lovely flowers to the home, since news of his death became known.

A "tribute and reflection" that begins with some words "Gus" penned to his mother:

Tribune-News (Cartersville, Georgia)

26 April 1823

FUNERAL OF AUGUSTUS WARREN FITE, JUNIOR

(A Tribute and Reflection.)

TO MY MOTHER

The place called home is where Mother stays,

Is the house of kin where affections lie;

It bears thro' childhood and growing up days

A charm whose glory will never die.

It lures me back by memory's chart,

From the wandering road and the broad highways,

With a love and a longing within my heart,

For the place called home where Mother stays.

-- (Signed) "GUS."

The above lines written as an Easter card, by a loving son, were read on Easter Monday, by a loving mother; happy in the thought that her years of motherly devotion were appreciated by her precious boy, evidenced by his expressed desire to be again within the family circle in the home town.

At the moment, that mother, Mrs. Augustus Warren Fite, of Cartersville, was reading the Easter missive, signed "Gus," that son, Augustus Warren Fite, Jr., of Muscogee, Oklahoma, had, during his sleep, without a struggle, without a sigh, passed on to his eternal home.

While not in robust health his death was most unexpected.

The Funeral.

Friends having assembled to meet the brother and other relatives who had hastened from Washington, D.C., and many sections of Georgia, the funeral was held in the home of the decedent at 10:30 o'clock yesterday morning.

Image by MustangJoe from Pixabay.com

The casket was covered in Easter lilies and other beautiful floral offerings were banked about it in token of love and esteem of friends throughout Northwest Georgia. The officiating minister, after reading of the funeral service with prayer and solemnly beautiful music and solos, made a few remarks that were ornate in the beauty of thought and the heartfelt sympathy offered the bereaved mother and grieved brothers and sisters.

He said, in part, that could Georgia speak, could Cartersville speak, could the friends of boyhood speak, all would say welcome home. He then compared the coming home alone, except for the flag of their country and a few comrades the heroes of the recent war, with the return of Mr. Fite, who, he said, had found in his distant home an adopted mother, Mrs. George McGuire, daughter of the late Judge Jno. A. Howard, of Cartersville, who had accompanied the remains to Cartersville and figuratively speaking, placed her boy in his own mother's arms.

He also spoke of the love of the young cousin, Bartow Fite, son of Dr. F. B. Fite, brother of the late Judge A. W. Fite, father of the decedent, who also made the sad journey that "Gus" might rest in the home of his fathers.

...As the last words were said the reflection came how blessed are those who are privileged to rest in ground made dear to them by the surrounding graves of their ancestors. -- Written by Mrs. J. Lindsay Johnson in Rome Tribune-Herald.

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