Williams, Mary M.

WILLIAMS, HUFF, MILLER, HINES, MCATEE, STANDLEY, SCHREPFER, RATHMEL

Posted By: Bill Rathbun (email)
Date: 9/25/2003 at 21:41:41

September 24, 2003

Mary M. Williams, 100, formerly of Bonaparte died at 8:30 p.m. Monday, Sept. 22, 2003, in Van Buren Good Samaritan Center in Keosauqua, where she had been living for the past two years.

The funeral will be held at 3 p.m. Friday at Pedrick Funeral Home in Keosauqua, with the Rev. Catie Newman officiating. Cremation will followed the service with private burial in Bentonsport Cemetery.

Visitation will be held from 6-8 p.m. Thursday and at 10 a.m. Friday at the funeral home, with the family present from 2-3 p.m. Friday, prior to the service.

Memorials to Bentonsport Cemetery may be left at the funeral home or mailed to the family at PO Box 123, Bonaparte 52620.

Mrs. Williams was born May 30, 1903, in Harrisburg Township, north of Bonaparte, the daughter of Clinton E. and Mabel Morris Huff. She married Andrew Williams Dec. 24, 1934, in Kahoka, Mo. He died Oct. 18, 1975.

Mrs. Williams was the oldest of 10 children and a caregiver for most of her life. At the age of 22, she raised her three youngest sisters, ages 7, 5 and 2, when their mother died. Later she and her husband took in a nephew to raise when his mother was killed in a car accident.

She and her husband farmed in Lee County and in Van Buren County, north of Bonaparte for many years. Her pastimes included gardening and raising chickens.

She was a member of the Woods Community Club and Rebekah Lodge.

Survivors include three grandchildren, which include Lori Miller and Susan Hines of Bonaparte; five great-grandsons; the nephew she and her husband raised, Michael McAtee; one brother, Clinton Huff of Milton; and three sisters, Pearle Standley of Fairfield, Marianne Schrepfer of Bonaparte and Jean Rathmel of Washington.

Besides her husband, she was preceded in death by one son, Lyle Williams; her parents; two brothers, Ben and Morris Huff; and three sisters, Edna Huff, Eunice Williams and Alice McAtee.

Courtesy of the Fairfield Daily Ledger