Extracted from The Abilene Reporter-News (Abilene, TX)
Wednesday, July 28, 1954

Milstead Body Coming Here; Funeral Friday

Body of Lonnie L. Milstead, 54, Abilenian who died Monday at Riverton, Wyo., will arrive in Abilene Thursday by train.

Funeral has been tentatively set for Friday at 3 p.m. in the Highland Church of Christ with the minister, E. R. Harper, officiating. Burial will be under direction of Elliott's Funeral Home.

Mrs. Milstead and a son, James Milstead of Sweetwater, are due to arrive in Abilene Wednesday evening, Harper said. They were with Mr. Milstead at the time of his death.

Lived Here 15 Years

A resident of Abilene for the past 15 years and of this area since the early 1920's, Mr. Milstead was West Texas representative for Lowe Brothers Paint Co.

Before joining that company in the mid-1940's, he represented National Gypsum Co. and Trinity-Portland Cement Co. in this area.

Mr. Milstead and his family were visiting a daughter, Mrs. Stanley Shipp, in Riverton, Wyo., during his vacation. They left Abilene Friday.

Monday they started on a trip up into the mountains and stopped to eat at a roadside park, Harper quoted Shipp, with whom he talked long distance Tuesday.

After lunch, Mr. Milstead got up and collapsed after taking several steps. He died almost instantly, Shipp said. At the time, the party was 70 miles from a doctor.

Mr. Milstead was born in Cleburne.

Both his sons and his daughter, whose husband is Church of Christ minister in Riverton, are former students at Abilene Christian College.

Other survivors include a second son, Lowell Milstead of Dallas; several brothers, including Sam Milstead of Fort Worth, vice president of Burton-Lingo Lumber Co., and Bill Milstead of Houston's Burton Lumber Corp., former manager of the Burton-Lingo store here until 1939; and several sisters.