There’s certainly no tombstone or marker at or near the Hatch Bridge, yet that’s the place where &uot;Colonel&uot; Jefferson E. Button was buried in Fountain Lake 57 years ago.

J.E. Button evidently grew up in Illinois where he operated a chain of shooting emporiums or galleries. These places likely used b-b guns or pellet rifles and were similar to what’s still a part of so many carnivals. He came to Albert Lea in either 1907 or 1910 and set up a local shooting gallery in a tent (summers) and indoors (winters). Colonel Button also ran a popcorn wagon for a few years, raised canaries as a hobby and for profit, and was an artist. His favorite subjects were dogs and cows.

One of his business locations was at the corner of

Main and Broadway at the present site of

the Wells Fargo parking lot. The colonel was a bachelor and lived in several of

the city’s smaller hotels. One was the Nesson Hotel, 330 S. Broadway Ave., and another was the Goodwin Hotel, 224 E. Clark St.

There wasn’t too much known about this man, except for a January 1933 interview by a Tribune reporter. The following is an excerpt from this interview which wasn’t actually published until 14 years later.

&uot;Just where he got the name of Colonel, we did not learn in this interview, but we believe it came by him because of his earlier day official-like appearance. Even today he looks like a Colonel, but for a slight crippleness in one foot, which is the result of an accident, which he experienced here in Albert Lea. To a casual question about how he happened to locate in Albert Lea, he said, ‘Well, you know I came here twenty three years ago to stay for two months, and I’m still here. I suffered an accident down on Fountain Lake when I broke my leg, and the result was that I kept right on staying.’

&uot;But the real interview with the Colonel was about death. Our meeting was with one of the local undertakers, and a very philosophical discussion of death and burials was carried on.

&uot;We found Colonel Button has very different ideas about burial. In fact he very strongly is opposed to being buried. His bones are to be scattered on the ‘beautiful blue waters’ of

Fountain Lake, if his explicitly written instructions to his financial advisor, Nate Whitney, are carried out. He has made every minute arrangement about being first cremated in the Twin Cities. His body is not to be embalmed but sent in the most inexpensive manner to the nearest crematory. Then he wants the ashes returned and brought back to be scattered over Fountain Lake from Hatch Bridge, a spot he dearly loves.&uot;

As a part of the 1933 interview, Button said the money saved on his burial expenses should be used to purchase shoes for the city’s poor children. Also, during this era, Button was quietly giving financial aid to several area families and individuals.

Colonel Button was about 89 years old when he died in December 1947. Concerns that his only living relative, a niece from Illinois, would try to change her uncle’s funeral plans or will were dispelled after she came to Albert Lea. Mrs. Morrissey of Joliet attended the memorial service and told Alfred Christopherson, a local banker and executor of the will, to proceed with her uncle’s final wishes.

While working on this column, I was reminded of a family incident involving cremation.

One of my first cousins lived in Hollywood and called himself

the &uot;plumber to the stars.&uot; When he died, his wife sent a letter which said he was going to be buried at sea. Since he was a World War II veteran of the U.S. Navy, I thought this was rather appropriate.

I found out later he was cremated and the ashes were scattered on the San Pedro Channel between Long Beach and Catalina Island. A mortuary in the Los Angeles area specialized in this type of burial and even had its own boat to be used for these family farewells to the deceased.

One could easily assume Jefferson Button and my cousin had what we now call living wills.

(Feature writer Ed Shannon’s column appears each Friday.)