Obituary - Mount Pulaski Times-News, 27 December 1956 BESSIE E. DUNCAN, BORN AT LAKE FORK, DIED AT DECATUR Mrs. Bessie E. Duncan, 76, wife of Elmer Duncan, 421 E. Leafland Ave., Decatur, Ill., died in her home at 9:50 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 20, 1956, following an illness of a week. Bessie E. Coates was born Aug. 30, 1880, near Lake Fork, Ill., a daughter of Charles and Lydia Coates.  She married Elmer Duncan in Decatur on Dec. 20, 1900.  Mrs. Duncan had lived in Decatur the past 28 years, and was a member of the Foursquare Church there. Besides her husband, she is survived by one son, Leroy, of Decatur; four daughters, Lela Waller, Colorado Springs, Colo.; Mrs. Evelyn Barnes, Mrs. Rose Barnes, and Mrs. Bessie Witts, all of Decatur; and Mrs. Pauline Potts, of Maroa; three brothers, Harley, James, and Charles Coates, all of Lake Fork; 19 grandchildren and 13 great-grandchildren. Funeral services were held at 2 p.m., Saturday, in the Foursquare Church in Decatur.  Burial was in Steenbergen Cemetery, southwest of Mount Pulaski