Ex-farmer ran Bible program

12/9/2000

NAPOLEON - Gale Emerson Salsbury, a longtime Williams County farmer, died Thursday in the Lutheran Home in Napoleon. He was 95.

Mr. Salsbury's son, Herbert, said he died of chronic pneumonia after suffering several years with Alzheimer's disease.

Mr. Salsbury farmed near Bryan and West Unity, O., until he retired about 1970, and then worked with his brother-in-law, Garald Lougheed, in the Lougheed Furniture Store, West Unity.

Herbert Salsbury said his father rented farms after his marriage to Geneva Wasnich in 1929. Later, they bought a 100-acre farm while continuing to rent acreage.

“He had a lot of cows, hogs, and chickens. It was an all-around general farm,” Mr. Salsbury said. “He was just very dedicated. His crops were some of the best.” The couple moved to Napoleon in 1985.

Mr. Salsbury was a member of St. Paul Lutheran Church, Napoleon, where he helped with the church newsletter. He was a member of the Gideons International. He and his wife volunteered at the Henry County Hospital gift shop.

They were married 71 years and were honored at the Henry County Fair as the oldest married couple.

Mr. Salsbury was a former member of the Pulaski, O., Methodist Church and Faith Methodist Church in Bryan, where he taught Bible classes.

Surviving are his wife, Geneva; daughter, Marilyn Elling, of Napoleon; sons, Herbert, Larry, and David; nine grandchildren; eleven great-grandchildren; two step-grandchildren, and sisters, Helen Wheeler, Jean Ely, and Wanda Lougheed.

Services will be at 11 a.m. Monday in St. Paul Lutheran Church, Napoleon. Visitation will be in the Snyder-Wesche Mortuary, Napoleon, after 2 p.m. tomorrow, and at the church one hour before the services.

The family requests tributes to the Lutheran Home, the Gideons International, the American Cancer Society, or to the St. Paul Lutheran Church Altar Guild.