Saturday, January 24, 2009

Terrible Tragedy

Kozette Perkett Stewart
1916-1935


One of the saddest stories I have run across while doing family history is that of Kozette Stewart. Kozette Perkett Stewart was the wife of Charles Leon Stewart. Charles was a 1st cousin to our grandpa, Jess Baldwin. It was during the depression and Grandma & Grandpa had moved from Oklahoma to Arizona and were living close to their Stewart relatives.

This story is pieced together from stories I heard from relatives and from the death certificate and obituary.
It was the fall of 1935. Charles & Kozette were newlyweds and were expecting their first child. They lived just outside Gilbert, Arizona, not far from Charles' parents. Kozette was just 19 years old and was about seven months pregnant. The family remembers Kozette as being a very beautiful and sweet person.
Kozette was getting ready to cook dinner and needed to start a fire in the wood stove. She used kerosene to start the fire. The stove exploded and Kozette was badly burned. Kozette and her unborn baby died a week later in the SouthSide Hospital in Mesa, Arizona.
The Mesa Journal Tribune of Friday November 22, 1935.


My aunt remembers Grandma Baldwin going to the hospital in Mesa to see Kozette. The whole family was just devastated. They all loved Kozette.

Kozette was born 27 Aug 1916 in Paden, Oklahoma and was the daughter of Fred Perkett and Katie Roby.
The death certificate states that Kozette was buried in Mesa. If anyone has a picture of her headstone or can find and take a picture of her headstone, please contact me. Thanks.

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