William R. Rathvon, C. S. B.

The Christian Science Board of Directors

It is with deep regret and with sincere sympathy for the many friends and pupils of our beloved associate and co-worker, Mr. William R. Rathvon, C. S. B., that his passing on at his home in Longwood Towers, Brookline, on Thursday, March 2, is recorded.

Mr. Rathvon is known to the Field as one who has served the Cause of Christian Science faithfully for a period of many years.

Mr. Rathvon was born in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. He was an alumnus of Franklin and Marshall College. He became interested in Christian Science in 1893, and received class instruction with a loyal teacher of Christian Science during that year. He became a member of First Church of Christ, Scientist, Boulder, Colorado, and retained his membership in that branch church until he passed on.

Mr. Rathvon studied in the Primary Class of the Board of Education in 1903, and in the Normal Class of 1907, when he was authorized to teach classes in Christian Science. He first taught in Boulder, Colorado, in 1908, and continued this work in Denver, Colorado, until 1925, after which his classes convened in Boston, Massachusetts. In 1908, he was called by Mrs. Eddy to be a member of her household, where he served as one of her secretaries for a little over two years. In February, 1911, Mr. Rathvon was elected to membership on The Christian Science Board of Lectureship. While a member of that Board he served not only in the United States, but traveled to the Orient, Australasia, and Europe for the purpose of delivering lectures on the subject of Christian Science. He retired from this activity to become Treasurer of The Mother Church, in which office he served from June, 1918, to October, 1918, when he was elected a member of The Christian Science Board of Directors of The Mother Church.

Mr. Rathvon is survived by his wife, Mrs. Lora C. Rathvon, of Brookline, Massachusetts, who is, herself, an earnest, consecrated worker in the Cause of Christian Science, and with whom the many pupils and friends of her husband understandingly sympathize. Mr. Rathvon is also survived by a son, Martin T. Rathvon, of Casper, Wyoming.

The funeral services were conducted by Harry C. Browne, First Reader of The Mother Church, at the Storey Chapel at Mt. Auburn Cemetery, Cambridge, on Sunday, March 5, at three o'clock in the afternoon, and were attended by a large number of relatives, friends, and pupils of Mr. Rathvon.

Those who had the privilege of knowing Mr. Rathvon recognize his unswerving loyalty to the Cause of Christian Science, and his fidelity to the truth revealed by our Leader, Mary Baker Eddy. Those who in this experience may be tempted to feel a sense of separation or loss will be comforted by our Leader's words in "Unity of Good," where she says (p. 37), "Because God is ever present, no boundary oftime can separate us from Him and the heaven of His presence; and because God is Life, all Life is eternal." Christian Scientists know that "as the Christian Scientist, the servant of God and man, he still lives, loves, labors" (Miscellany, p. 295).

The Christian Science Board of Directors

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March 25, 1939

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