Cass William Surprise (1881-1954)
Set Inquest in Death of Cass Surprise
CEDAR LAKE -- An inquest has been set tentatively for Friday in the death of Cass Surprise, 73, owner of Surprise Park at Cedar Lake, who was found dead of a gunshot wound in his home shortly after 4 pm, Friday.DEPUTY SHERIFFS Henry Duwar and John Mueller reported that Surprise's body was discovered by a son, Julius, upon the latter's return from a trip to Lowell to obtain medicine for his father, who had crippling arthritis.
The body was on the floor of the utility room of the Surprise home south of the Cedar Lake ice house on the Cedar Lake-Lowell road. The deputies said Surprise had been shot through the center of the forehead. His own .32 caliber automatic pistol lay beside him.
THE BODY was taken to Sheets Funeral Home in Lowell where funeral services will be held at 2 pm. Monday with burial in Lowell Cemetery. The Rev. E.L. Worley will officiate. The family requests no flowers.
Surviving are two daughters, Mrs. Lillian Pandolfi of Milwaukee, Wis., and Mrs. Ruth Wayne of Cedar Lake; two sons, Roy and Julius in Cedar Lake; two brothers, Guy of Lowell and Glenn M. in Schulenburg, Texas; a sister, Mrs. Cora Latta of Shelby, and seven grandchildren.
The following newspaper article, hand-identified as being fromt he December 16, 1954, Tribune, was found in a scrapbook owned by Town Historian Richard Schmal:
Cass Surprise, 73, Son of Area Pioneer, Laid to Rest Monday
Memorial services were held Monday afternoon, December 13, in the Sheets Funeral Home, for Cass William Surprise, 73, of Cedar Lake. Rev. E.L. Worley officiated and he was laid to rest in the Lowell cemetery beside his beloved wife, whom he was so eager to join.Cass was born at Cedar Lake July 5, 1881, the son of William and Celista Surprise, and the grandson of Peter and LaRose (Taylor) Surprise, who in 1834 followed a group of French trappers to the Kankakee Marshlands. Peter, with his family, was among the first to take up a homestead under "squatter sovereignty." He erected a cabin on his land near the present site of Lowell. Many of the descendants of his four daughters and four sons are residents of Lake County, and Cass leaves behind him a host of bereaved relatives and friends in the region, where he has spend his lifetime.
Cass will always be remembered for his development of Surprise Park on the southeast shores of Cedar Lake. He retired from active business in 1942 and had been in failing health for the past three years. However, he was mentally alert, and keenly interested in Lake county politics. In his striving for good government, he became associated with Rural Freedom, Inc., a non-partisan organization interested in local civic improvement.
It was in 1905 that Cass married Anna Ribbentrop, who passed away November 20, 1951, at the age of 63. Since then Cass had lived with his son Julius.
Immediate family survivors include two sons, Roy W. and Julius G., both Cedar Lake businessmen, and two daughters, Lillian Pandolfi of Milwaukee, Wis., and Ruth Wayne, of Cedar Lake; also seven grandchildren; a sister, Mrs. Cora Latta of Shelby, and two brothers, Guy of Lowell, and Glenn of Schulenburg, Texas.
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