Obit of Cornelius B. Kunkle



Hazleton Plain Speaker Wednesday, October 29, 1947

C.B. Kunkle Dies Suddenly; Headed Coxe Charity Work

Cornelius B. Kunkle, secretary-treasurer of the Sophia G. Coxe Charitable and Memorial Trust Fund, and one of this region's outstanding civic workers for many years, died suddenly last night at 10:10 o'clock at his home in Drifton.

He had been ill the past four months with a heart condition but was able to be about occasionally. Only yesterday, he enjoyed a short auto ride.

A native of Hazleton, Mr. Kunkle entered the employ of Mrs. Sophia G. Coxe, wife of Eckley H. Coxe, Jr., prominent North Side coal operator in 1915 serving as her secretary in directing and correlating the innumerable charitable and philanthropic benefits which gave her the name of "the Angel of the Hard Coal Fields".

Following her death in 1926, he was designated in her will to continue in his past capacity administering the monies she set aside for charitable purposes. The work was important and supplemented borderline cases of charity and need which could not be handled by local, county, state, or federal relief agencies.

In addition to his work administering the details of the Mrs. Cox Fund, Mr. Kunkle took an active interest in other charitable agencies in the Hazleton-Freeland region.

He was a member of the board of directors of the United Charities, and upon his retirement in 1943, after 29 years of service, was named an honorary director.

He served a ten-year term as a member of the Board of Trustees of the Hazleton State Hospital, being secretary-treasurer of the board for eight years. He was named to the board, upon Mrs. Coxe's suggestion, as successor to her husband, who died in 1916.

In addition, he was active in work for the blind and at the time of his death was a director of the Hazleton Branch of the Pennsylvania Society for the Blind.

He took exceptional interest in the Freeland Mining and Mechanical Institute, a Coxe institution, joining its board of directors in 1915, and serving as its secretary for 30 years.

Mr. Kunkle was a member of Hazle Lodge 327, Free and Accepted Masons; the Lehigh Consistory of Allentown, and the Irem Temple AAONMS, of Wilkes-Barre.

Religiously, he was affiliatged with St. James Episcopal church, of Drifton, where he served for many years as accounting warden.

He is survived by his wife, the former Naomi Kaesemeyer; a brother, Wilson Kunkle, of this city; and two sisters, Mrs. Ada Wilhelm, of this city, and Mrs. Mande MacAvoy of Tampa, Florida.

Funeral servicesw will be held Thursday evening at 8 o'clock at the residence in Drifton, with the Rev. J.R. Breckenridge, rector of St. James' Episcopal church, officiatng. Continued services will be conducted at the William Tickner Funeral Home in Baltimore on Saturday, and interment will be made Saturday afternoon in Woodlawn cemetery, Baltimore.

I would Like to thanks Dalice For the Generous Donation to Luzerne Genweb.

© 1997-2011 by Mary Ann Lubinsky for the PAGenWeb Project, and by Individual Contributors

 Mary Ann Lubinsky
County Coordinator

Back To Luzerne
Genweb