Myrtle Hendricks 1920 - 2009

HENDRICKS, HOPKINS, HUNT, KANDZOR, RAMSEY

Posted By: Volunteer - Rich Lowe
Date: 3/21/2009 at 06:15:00

Myrtle Rose Ella Hendricks, 88, of Bonaparte, died at 10:45 a.m. Wednesday, March 18, 2009, at Park Place Long Term Care Unit in Mount Pleasant.

Born Aug. 5, 1920, in Harvard, Ill., she was the daughter of Ben Hopkins and Rose Severing Hunt. On Oct. 21, 1938, she married David Stanley Hendricks in McAllister, Mont.

Mrs. Hendricks was active in operating the couple's gas stations in Bonaparte, including book work, pumping gas and changing oil in customer's cars while her husband did the mechanical work.

She moved as a child with her parents to Montana, where they were homesteaders. She was a 1938 graduate of Ennis, Mont., High School. She and her husband lived in several locations during World War II, including San Francisco, New Orleans, Jacksonville, Fla., and Oak Ridge, Tenn., where Mr. Hendricks worked in war plants. After the war, the couple returned to Van Buren County.

After retiring in 1974, she and her husband traveled around the country for the next 12 years. She loved to cook and bake for others and her popcorn balls were a tradition in Bonaparte.

Survivors include two sons, David Hendricks of Grand Junction, Colo., and Ben Hendricks of Bonaparte; two daughters, Marye Jane Kandzor of Oak Harbor, Wash., and Edna Ramsey of Orlando, Fla.; nine grandchildren; five great-grandchildren; and one sister, Ruth Page of Butte, Mont.

Besides her husband, she was preceded in death by her parents, one sister and two brothers.

Private burial will be in Bonaparte Cemetery followed by a celebration of life service at 2 p.m. Saturday at Bonaparte United Church with the Rev. Paul Rekward officiating.

Memorials have been established for Bonaparte Fire Department and Bonaparte United Church.