The Bobbitt Family In America
439


Previous Table of Contents Next




Image View [5]
Human relationships are so complicated that we all know that association with one person can make one ill, whereas association with another person can make one well. Mabel Bobbitt was a highly intelligent woman with a warm, loving personality. She was honest and open in her dealings with all persons. She had the healing qualities and touch of a skillful nurse and soon she had cured the physical and mental illnesses of John Franklin Bobbitt. On March 22, 1981 she wrote in a letter to me the following.

Your letter came at the right time. As an eighty seven year old "pack rat" I am trying to clear my files of all materials of no interest to any family but was reluctant to destroy the material on my husband.

I was born September 21, 1893 in Flat Rock, Indiana, the daughter of John Charles and Mary (Crafton) Deiwert. Franklin and I were married January 4, 1941. He retired August 9, 1941 to his "five acre farm" where he read widely, wrote for: professional magazines, enjoyed discussions of the local Great Books Club, gardened and traveled.

I have many letters from Mabel Bobbitt and one can immediately sense the loving care of this delightful woman. She had and maintained a close relationship with Margaret Bobbitt Miller, her stepdaughter until the present time.

In 1956 Franklin Bobbitt suffered seriously from a heart condition and was ill for several months. He died on March 7, 1956 at the age of eighty in Waldron, Indiana, where he had lived since his retirement from the University of Chicago in 1941.

There are numerous newspaper, magazine, and school letter obituaries and tributes to the life of Dr. John Franklin Bobbitt. "Mr. Bobbitt is revered by the thousands of students who over a period of thirty-two years filled his classes. He is survived by his wife, Mabel Deiwert Bobbitt and his daughter by a previous marriage, Margaret B. Miller."

"Mr. Bobbitt was a member of the Christian Church in Corydon and Reverend John C. Faust, pastor of the local First Christian Church will officiate at the Funeral Services Saturday at 10:30 AM at the Ewing Mortuary. Cremation will follow."

John Franklin Bobbitt was buried in the Deiwert Family cemetery in Decatur County.

His will was recorded in Will Book 15, dated January 26, 1953.

"All residue of my estate to my wife Mabel D. Bobbitt Hereby appoint as my executrix, my wife. I heretofore have made a settlement upon my daughter by a previous


Image View [6]

Previous Table of Contents Next