SPEES, Olive F.: Died 1982

SPEES, DAVIS, LAYMAN, ABERNATHY, FINDLAY, COCKRELL

Posted By: Volunteer: Sherri
Date: 8/20/2021 at 12:10:19

**Handwritten: 27 May Register

OLIVE F. SPEES

Olive F. Spees, daughter of Allen T. and Olive Davis Layman, was born August 8, 1891 at Wakeeney, Kansas and departed this life early Monday, May 24, 1982 at Van Buren County Memorial Hospital in Keosauqua, Iowa at the age of 90.

At the age of five she moved with her parents to a farm near Mt. Pleasant, Iowa. They later lived in the Birmingham and Libertyville communities. On November 29, 1917, she married Thomas L. Spees of Birmingham at her parents home southeast of Libertyville. He passed away February 8, 1951. She was a member and very active in the Mt. Zion Methodist Church near her parent's home. Her husband was called to service in the first World War soon after their marriage. She worked as a switchboard operator until his return, when they moved to a farm northeast of Birmingham. They farmed in the Birmingham and Selma communities until his health failed and they left the farm in 1946 and moved to Selma where they operated the switchboard. After her husband's death she continued in the telephone office until retiring in July 1958. She continued to make her home in Selma, until becoming a resident at the Van Buren Good Samaritan Center in Keosauqua.

Remaining to cherish her memory are four children, Robert Spees of St. Louis, Mo., Roberta Abernathy of Eldon, Richard Spees of Selma and Ruth Marie Findlay of Moses Lake, Washington. Also surviving are a sister, Ruth Cockrell of Burlington, ten grandchildren, 18 great grandchilrendren(err) and a great, great grandson, other relatives and friends. Five brothers preceded her in death.

Funeral services were held Wednesday, May 26, 1982 at 1:30 P.M. at Pedrick Funeral Home in Douds, with Reverend Gerald Caughron officiating.

Interment was in Iowaville Cemetery near Selma.

Source: "Scrapbook 1981 - 1985", Pg. 96,
Keosauqua Public Library, Keosauqua, Van Buren Co., IA