Bessey, Aletha Margaret 1909-1997

BESSEY, FALKINBURGH, WRIGHT, MCKNIGHT, GOREHAM, PHILLIPS

Posted By: Marilyn Holmes (email)
Date: 3/19/2013 at 09:41:32

The Montezuma (IA) Republican; Dec. 3, 1997

ALETHA BESSEY, 88

Aletha Margaret Wright Bessey, 88, of Pella passed away November 27, 1997 at the Pella Regional Health Center in Pella.

Funeral services were Monday, December 1 with the Rev. Howard Lord of Montezuma officiating.

Musical selections were "In the Garden," and "The Old Rugged Cross" with Mrs. Rhonda Minner as soloist and Mrs. Kathleen Ramsey as organist.

Casket bearers were Robert Phillips, Oskaloosa; Robert Phillips, II, Sigourney; Rick Phillips, Searsboro; Rick Phillips Jr., Searsboro; James Reynolds, Des Moines and Blint Roberts of Columbia, Mo.

Interment was in the Masonic-IOOF Cemetery in Montezuma.

Aletha was born August 9, 1909 in Montezuma, the daughter of John Hiram and Margaret Aletha (Falkinburgh) Wright. She graduated from Montezuma High School in 1929 and Iowa State Teachers College in 1932. She taught one year at a country school and one year at the Searsboro Consolidated School.

On May 29, 1938, she was united in marriage to Edwin Forrest Bessey. He passed away July 31, 1943.

She lived in Des Moines for 37 years and in 1943, began working for Iowa Pack Credit Union until it closed in 1967. She moved to Avon Park, Fla. in 1975 and came to Pella in 1982, where she has since lived.

She was a seamstress and made many kinds of crafts.

In 1958, she took a trip around the world and later became a tour guide.

She was preceded in death by her husband, her parents, a sister, Wilma, in 1920 and a niece, Lana McKnight, in 1988.

Aletha is survived by her sister, Helen Goreham, a niece, Wilma and her husband, Robert Phillips, all of Oskaloosa; three great-nieces, four great-nephews, one great-great niece and five great-great nephews.