Dr. George A. Campbell passed away this evening just as the sun set in a glorious glowing sky. The end came peacefully and quietly after days of increasing weakness and years of suffering in comparative helplessness. We talked together this afternoon in the old comradery of spirit which we had enjoyed through more than fifty years since student days at Drake. While he could speak but very little, and then only in whispers, he had part in the conversation through his expressive eyes and the swift changes of his features.

From his bed he could see the lake and the encircling pines which he loved so much. For thirty-nine years he sought this shore with every cycle of the seasons. With his wife and their growing children he came every summer to work as only the vacation time enables a professional man to do, and to enjoy the loveliness of nature and his genius for friendship.

Through a long, rich life of deep and passionate devotion to the churches and the brotherhood he served so well, he came here year after year to renew his strength. He knew well that this would be his last summer. By what would have seemed to others an impossible journey he came again and lived in vivid consciousness through every day and every quiet, wistful evening. And tonight he saw his last sunset over the beautiful water and the gorgeous sky. And there was a lovely afterglow to his day as there is to his life itself.

E. S. Ames

This eulogy was originally published in "THE SCROLL," Vol. XLI, No. 1 (September 1943), page 16. THE SCROLL was the publication of the Campbell Institute, an organization of liberal, well educated ministers within the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). Both George Alexander CAMPBELL and Edward Scribner AMES were among the 14 charter members who created the Campbell Institute in 1896. Dr. Ames was editor of THE SCROLL for many years. His eulogy was reprinted on the last page of Dr. Campbell's autobiography, "Friends Are My Story" which was posthumously published in 1944 by the Bethany Press, St. Louis, Mo., pp. 253.

Dr. E. S. AMES = Edward Scribner AMES [1870-1958]. Ed died in Chicago, Illinois, but his and his wife Mabel's ashes are spread behind their cottage in Pentwater, Michigan.

Dr. George A. Campbell = George Alexander CAMPBELL [1869-1943] and his wife May are buried in St Louis, Missouri, but he died at their cottage in Pentwater, Michigan.

student days at Drake. Ed AMES and George CAMPBELL -- and both of their future wives -- were students together at Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa, 1887-1892.

From his bed he could see the lake... George died in the "master bedroom" on the ground floor of his cottage "Argyle." (This had been the cottage's first and only room in 1908 -- and friends called it "Campbell's peanut stand.") When he became bedridden three or four years before he died, the family turned the bed to face directly West toward Lake Michigan and the setting sun.

For thirty-nine years he sought this shore... "Pentwater," the last chapter of George's autobiography begins "The first time I went to Pentwater was in 1903. At the Disciples Convention in Detroit that year, a number of us planned to try to find a tract bordering on a lake on which we could build cottages where we could spend our summer vacations... Earlier, on a visit to Pentwater, E.S. Ames had discovered a thirty-three acre tract of woods north of the pier, which had a frontage of 1,300 feet on Lake Michigan."

his wife and their growing children. George's wife was Luna May JAMESON [1869-1940]. May was a second cousin of Ed's wife Mabel VAN METER [1869-1953]. The two couples knew each other all during university and shared an apartment in Chicago in 1895. Together they founded Campbell Park in Pentwater, MI, in 1907, and, when lots were drawn for cottage sites, they drew adjacent sites. So even their children and grandchildren grew up sharing summers together.

his genius for friendship. George's autobiography "Friends Are My Story" was published in St. Louis by Bethany Press in 1944.

the churches. George served four Disciples churches: First Christian Church, Hiawatha, Kansas [1893-1895]; Austin Boulevard Christian Church, Chicago, Illinois [1895-1910]; First Christian Church, Hannibal, Missouri [1910-1918]; and Union Avenue Christian Church, St. Louis, Missouri [1918-1938].

the brotherhood = Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). George was President of the International Convention [1933] and held many other church positions. He edited "The Oracle" [1898-1900], renamed it "The Christian Century" in 1900, and, after retiring from Union Avenue, edited "The Christian-Evangelist [1938].

lovely afterglow. The last two sentences of Dr. Ames' eulogy were quoted four years later in remarks delivered by the Rev. C. E. Lemmon at the dedication of the George A. Campbell Memorial Chapel at Union Avenue Chirstian Church on 30 Sep 1947. Rev. Lemmon was pastor of the First Christian Church in Columbia, Missouri. The text of his remarks -- entitled "The Afterglow Of A Good Life" -- and Dr. Ames' eulogy were reprinted in the Jan 1948 issue of THE SCROLL.

The text of Dr. Ames' eulogy was transcribed and annotated 29 May 1999 by Ted Lollis. The image of George Alexander CAMPBELL is from a 1918 biography put on-line by the Rev. James L. McMillan of the Univesity of Illinois.