As we continue with our series on the history of the house at 405 Willow St., this week we will delve further into the story of the decades when the Reardon family called this house “home.” As we have seen, the Reardons lived there for 52 years, from 1915 to 1967.
During those years, the Reardons experienced all the joys and sorrows that are common to life. Counted among their joys were the births of their three children, Mary Ann, Daniel Albertsen, and William John Jr. One of the chief sorrows, as we have seen, was the death of Judge Reardon Sr. in 1941 due to what appears to have been congestive heart failure.
But the Reardon family suffered most deeply from the death of their second child, Danny, at the age of 16, on 18 July 1932. As the obituary of Judge Reardon Sr. observed, “Among all the word darts and actual bullets fired at him in his life, none cut him so as did the death of Danny; and it is beside Danny that he will be buried next Monday noon.”
The hopes and promise of Danny Reardon’s life were cut short by heart disease, whether from a congenital defect that manifested during his high school years, or perhaps from heart damage caused by childhood rheumatic fever. Here is a transcription of Danny’s obituary and funeral notice from the Pekin Daily Times:
Danny Reardon Taken By Death At Noon Today
All the hopes and plans and ambitions of a sturdy youth who had everything to live for and brightest prospects for the future faded at noon today when death closed the eyes of Danny Reardon in St. Francis hospital.
Danny who was the 17 (sic – 16) year old son of attorney and Mrs. W.J. Reardon, living at the corner of N. Fourth and Willow was an exceptionally robust boy. His friends all expected him to make good in football. He was on the track squad in the spring of 1931.
One day a swelling was noticed in his limbs. A physician was consulted and it was found that a heart difficulty had risen.
All last summer Danny lay ill but when the crisp days of autumn came he improved greatly and was able to go to school a half day each day. When the new semester started in February, he undertook to go to school full time. His interest in his school was such that he was serving as assistant manager of the basketball team and was in line for promotion to the place of manager this year which would have been his senior year in school had he not been interrupted by illness.
But on March 17 this spring he was taken ill again. Since then he has been losing ground steadily until two weeks ago when the doctors at St. Francis hospital told the family there was no hope. Despite the expectations of physicians, Danny never went into a coma. He kept in good spirits and altho delirious last night, he kept his faculties and talked much during the night. The end came at noon today.
Daniel Albertsen Reardon was born September 26, 1915, the son of William J. and Marie Albertson Reardon. Besides the parents who grieve for the loss of their eldest son, Danny is mourned by an older sister Mary Ann and a younger brother Billy. There are many relatives and a host of friends who will be saddened by the news of Danny’s passing.
The body was brought to the Noel Funeral Home this afternoon. Funeral plans will be announced in tomorrow’s paper.
Every scout in Pekin is to meet at St. Joseph’s church at Broadway and Seventh at 8:30 tomorrow morning to attend the funeral services for Danny Reardon, who was a member of troop 55, Boy Scouts of America.By being there at 8:30 the boys will have time to organize and attend the funeral in a body. Later the boy scouts will go to the cemetery there and place a marker upon the grave of their fallen comrade.
It was almost nine years later that Judge Reardon died in the summer of 1941. After his death, his widow Marie E. (Albertsen) Reardon continued to live there as the house’s owner. Her youngest child, Judge William J. Reardon Jr., never married, and he shared the home with his mother, caring for her in her latter years. Throughout her adult life – first as a wife and mother, then as a widow – Mrs. Reardon was an active member of Pekin’s community and prominent in the city’s society.
Her obituary, which provides an informative sketch of her life and tribute to her community service and her gardening talents, indicates that during the last two years of her life, she was not able to be home very much due to her illness. Following is her obituary from the Pekin Daily Times, Saturday, 8 April 1967:
Mrs. Marie Reardon, Last of Prominent Pekin Family, Dies
Pekin was saddened today to learn of the death of Mrs. Marie E. Reardon, 82, last surviving member of a pioneer Pekin family, who died at about midnight in Pekin Memorial Hospital. Mrs. Reardon was the mother of Judge William J. Reardon of Pekin.
Tho she had been ill for several years and a hospital patient since July 27, 1965, Mrs. Reardon in the years preceding her long illness had been prominent in many local organizations, and her artistic talents, particularly, had benefited the community and all groups with which she had been associated.
Her home at 405 Willow street, always open to friends, and often the scene of outstanding events for church and social groups, reflected Mrs. Reardon’s interests. As a bride she had established her home at that address, and over the years the interior decoration became a collection of treasured objects and the grounds revealed her lifelong interest in gardening.
In her church, Grace Methodist, Mrs. Reardon was prominent for many years in the Women’s Society of Christian Service, and she had given much of her time to the YWCA, which she at one time served as president. She was also a past president of Pekin Garden Club, a member and past president of Chapter GW of PEO, and a Pekin Woman’s Club member. Many other organizations in the community were indebted over the years to Mrs. Reardon for her contribution in the form of floral decoration when special events occurred.
Marie E. Albertsen was born Oct. 27, 1884, the ninth of ten children of Ubbo J. and Sophia Koch Albertsen. Her six brothers and three sisters preceded her in death, as did her parents. Also deceased is her husband, William J. Reardon, whom she married in Pekin June 17, 1913. His death occurred June 25, 1941.
The Reardons had three children, two of whom survive: Mrs. Richard (Mary Ann) VonDerHeide of Alexandria, Minn., and Judge William J. Reardon of Pekin. Another son, Daniel, died in 1932. Mrs. VonDerHeide had six children who survive their grandmother.
Preston Funeral Home has announced that services for Mrs. Reardon will be held in Grace Methodist Church at 2 p.m. Monday, with burial in Lakeside Cemetery. Dr. J. A. Mason, pastor of the church, will officiate. Visitation will be held Sunday at the funeral home from 3 to 5 and 7 to 9 p.m. and the body will be taken to the church at 11 a.m. Monday. Memorial contributions may be made to Grace Methodist Church or to the Pekin YWCA.
After her death, her children Mary and Judge Reardon Jr. sold the house at 405 Willow St. to a CILCO employee from Pekin named Eugene V. Marshall. Marie Reardon’s eldest child Mary survived her by almost 31 years. Here is Mary’s obituary, from the 4 Feb. 1998 Pekin Daily Times:
PEKIN — Mary Ann VonDerHeide, 83, of 312 Buena Vista St., Apt. 8, died at 7:40 a.m. Tuesday, Feb. 3, 1998, at Pekin Hospital.
There will be no services or visitation. Cremation rites will be accorded and inurnment will be in Alexandria, Minn.
Preston-Hanley Funeral Home, Pekin Chapel, is handling the arrangements.
Memorial contributions may be made to Pekin Public Library or Douglas County Public Library in Alexandria.
She was born May 19, 1914, in Pekin to William J. and Marie E. Albertsen Reardon. She married Richard E. VonDerHeide April 2, 1964, in Alexandria, Minn.
Surviving are her husband, of the Veterans Home in Minneapolis, Minn.; three sons, Michael Carrington Simpson of Fayetteville, N.C., Peter Reardon Simpson of Fairfax, Calif., and Vincent William Turner of Ivanhoe, Minn.; three daughters, Anne Marie Turner of Redwood City, Calif., Jane Turner of St. Paul, Minn., and Barbara Elizabeth Sampson of Minnetonka, Minn.; one stepson, Charles Daniel VonDerHeide of Manito; seven grandchildren; and one brother, William J. Reardon of Pekin.
She earned her bachelor’s degree in home economics from St. Mary of the Woods College in St. Mary of the Woods, Ind. She was a 1931 graduate of Pekin Community High School.
Mrs. VonDerHeide served her dietician internship at Walter Reed Army Hospital in Washington, D.C. She was a dietician at hospitals in New Jersey, California and at Station Hospital at Fort Benjamin Harrison, Ind. She last worked at Pekin Hospital.
Nine years later, Mary Ann’s youngest brother, Judge Reardon Jr., died at his home in Country Club estates. Next week we will share the obituaries and newspaper tribute articles of the last surviving member of the Reardon family to live at 405 Willow St., Judge William J. Reardon Jr.
