This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list. Surnames: STEELE, BESS, BOYD, BRACKMAN, THOMAS, HARRISON, MATHEWS Classification: Obituary Message Board URL: http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec/msg/rw/SRB.2ACE/11682 Message Board Post: PJ Obit 11/14/2004 Beatrice Bernice ''Aunt Bea'' Steele, 92, of Lutheran Social Services, formerly of 35 Cross St., Jamestown, Silver Creek, and Dunkirk, died Saturday (Nov. 13, 2004) in the facility. She was born Aug. 16, 1912, in Memphis, Tenn., the daughter of William and Mamie Boyd Bess. Raised in Silver Creek, she attended the New York State School for the Blind in Batavia, N.Y. She was a member of Emmanuel Baptist Church and a former member of its choir. In earlier years, she had been a member of Good Hope Baptist Church in Dunkirk, and Zion Baptist Church in Farnaham, N.Y. She was a member of the Chadakoin Lodge 542 in Jamestown, the Chautauqua County Blind Association, the Lions Club, and the Christian Handicap League. She enjoyed spending time with family and friends. She will be greatly missed by many nieces and nephews. In earlier years, when she had her sight, she loved to crochet. She is survived by a son, James Harold Bess of Apple Valley, Calif.; three grandchildren: Laurie Dian! e Bess of Ontario, Calif., James Jr. and Darrel Wayne Bess, both of Apple Valley; seven great-grandchildren; one great-great-granddaughter; four nieces and a nephew: Sherdena Brackman, Patricia Thomas, Catherine Harrison, Joyce and James Albert Bess, her caregivers; and her companion, William Earl Ferguson. She was preceded in death by her first husband, Thomas Mathews, whom she married July 20, 1952, and who died Jan 1, 1959; her second husband, Charles Steele, whom she married Aug. 28, 1959, and who died Jan. 3, 1963; and a brother, James Bess who died Feb. 2, 1972. Burial will be in Sunset Hill Cemetery.