BLAINE, Tenn. — Gertrude Janeway, the last widow of a Union veteran from the Civil War, has died in the three-room log cabin where she lived most of her life. She was 93.
Bedridden for years, she died Friday, more than six decades after the passing of the man she called the love of her life, John Janeway, who married her when he was 81 and she was barely 18.
"She was a special person," said the Rev. Leonard Goins, who officiated at her funeral Sunday.
"Gertie, as she was called, had a vision beyond that (cabin) that kept her going. She never had any wavering or doubt in her salvation. She was strong in that," he said.
She was to be buried tonday near her husband's slender military tombstone at tiny New Corinth Church cemetery.
An honorary member of the Daughters of Union Veterans of the Civil War, Janeway was the last recognized Union widow.