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A Letter to the friends of Mrs. Ward
130 E. 22d St., New York
April 27,1924

Dear Mr. Tanner: 

This letter is written in the hope of bringing into closer touch the friends of Mrs. Lydia Avery Coonley Ward, and to gain your opinion and desire on a matter which was close to her heart and about which you may have talked together. It concerns the part which lovely Hillside may continue to take in the building of a better world, now that she who determined it for so many years has gone, and the threads must be gathered up by other hands. To most of you the word of Mrs. Ward's passing has run ahead of this letter, but to any who may not have heard, I know your first desire will be to learn of those last days when, in the midst of plans for others, the active mind followed the tired body to sleep.

In November Mrs. Ward left Hillside for a busy winter in Chicago where she planned much writing and other things she had long wanted to do. For some time her eyes had troubled her, and, in seeking help for them, she was told that her blood pressure was very high and that her general condition demanded relief. A thorough rest was prescribed and she went at once to Grant Hospital to submit to such a regime, but resting was not so easy for her as it is for some patients, and she was very happy when she learned of a beautiful apartment in the Beldon Hotel, overlooking Lincoln Park and the lake, with the towers of the city in the distance, where she could carry out the physicians' orders and still give some attention to her many interests. Here with her pleasant household organized and her working tools and many of the things she loved about her, she happily accepted the situation and tried to accomplish her purpose. Years of intense activity were claiming their reaction, nevertheless she would plan at least a little for the coming spring and summer, and this she did until the last.