Late Friday afternoon, July 16, 1915, the telegraph wires carried the word across the land that Ellen G. White, the messenger of the Lord, was at rest. Through telephone and telegraph the message reached many of the churches in time for Sabbath-morning announcement. To the public press the news called for the release of stories and pictures so that the world might know. News stories had been prepared in advance to be held until the release of word of her death. 6BIO 432.1
At Elmshaven, carefully laid plans for funeral services were activated. One service was to be held on the lawn right there at her home, another in the San Francisco Bay area, and the third in Battle Creek, Michigan, where she would be laid to rest by the side of her husband. That Friday afternoon invitations to the Sunday funeral were quickly run off on the nearby “Elmshaven Press” operated by her grandsons, Henry and Herbert White, and these were mailed to 220 families in the valley (WCW to David Lacey, July 20, 1915). It read: 6BIO 432.2