BURGETT, Dillard A.

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For the Democrat.

Death of D. A. Burgett.

Dr. Dillard A. Burgett is dead, died young, full of hope and inspiration. His life work, words of kindness still live. The writer of these imperfect sentences, testifies to our adoration and love for the doctor, and a keen sense of our irreparable loss in his death. To know Dr. Burgett was a real joy, always pleasant, sociable, kind and true, a halo, something (I cannot express) that al­ways made you feel easy and you had felt the assurance that you were in the presence of a friend, a brother. He was filled with that broad Christian spirit that takes in the whole world. No pre­scription only of the wrong, a broad active brain and heart full of love, sym­pathetic, tender, helping. A husband, yes, in the fullest sense, a refuge for his now disconsolate wife, a father not in theory but in kindness, rectitude and love always bubbling over for not only his own children but for the tender ones of his neighbors. The writer asked one of his neighbors what about the life of Dr. Burgett, and the reply came, “He was a Christian man, a leader, and our community seems lost without him. He was a good man and we do not expect to get a man to fill his place.” No community knows the full value of such a man in a full degree, but how quick their loss is made known when he is dead. He was a success in his profession and no doubt if he had been spared he would have excelled, grown into the broad fields of practice and been a relief, comfort and solace to thousands. But He that doeth all cor­rectly, has decreed otherwise and it is our duty to humbly submit and say “Thy will and not ours be done.” God alone can heal the broken hearts, gather up the fragments, the desolation of death. The memories of all connected with the young doctor’s life are doubtless fragrant with kindness, love, sympathy and whilst we mourn there is an assurance looking to the beyond. He lived not for time but for eternity and may it be the finality of his every friend to greet him on the golden shore some sweet day, where there will be no good byes but eternal bliss, growth and happiness beyond degree.

Fraternally,

Dault Wilson.

Greenwood, Ind., Oct. 25, 1893.

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Link to Dillard A. Burgett’s grave

Note: The Johnson County Indiana WPA Death Index, 1882–1920, page 23, referencing Book H-17, page 4, records that D. A. Burgett, a twenty-eight-year-old white male, died 22 Oct 1893 in Johnson County.

Submitted by Mark McCrady and Cathea Curry