Rev. Emery Otis, was born in Schuyler County, Illinois, May 7, 1874, and died near Stratford, Oklahoma, December 4, 1937. He married Leota Barton in 1897, to which union were born four sons and two daughters, all of whom, with the wife susvive. He was converted and sanetified in his boyhood and for a time was a member of the United Brethern Church, but soon united with the Free Methodist Church and has continued faithful to it in every way. He felt his call to the ministry and in 1901 was admitted to the Oklahoma Conference on trial, was ordined deacon in 1906 by Bishop B. B. Jones, and elder in 1910, and with the exception of two years when he was supernumerary because of sickness in his family he had for thirty-three years served as pastor and district elder, having served the following circuits and districts: Perry and Lone Elm, Maple Grove, Uneas and Stony Point, Enid and Fairmont, Prairie Queen, Cashion and Bethel, Guthrie a part of the year, serving the balance of the year as district elder on Guthrie and Ponca District, Bartlesville, Dewy and Bird Creek, Oklahoma City; district elder on Enid and Ponca Districts, Geary, Seiling and Beaver Districts, then pastor at Oklahoma City, Ponca City, Covington, Cashion and Bethel, Cashion and Rose Valley near Enid. He was a good pastor, always interested in the spiritual welfare of the people as well as the advancement of the work. In the conference he was active and aggressive, was kind and considerate toward his brothren, could take defeat gracefully, yet when there was a righteous principle involved he stood immovable for the right. He was a member of the conference board of examiners for twenty-two years, and sponsored and collected the preachers' library. he served on the Board of Trustees of Central College for a number of years. Ten conference preachers were present at the funeral, acting as pallbears and assisting with the service. Sermon by the writer. Interment is in the Pondcreek cemetery.
A. B. Martin