This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list. Surnames: WILLSIE, SPOONER, BERGSTRESSER, KERR, NEARPASS Classification: Obituary Message Board URL: http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec/msg/rw/SRB.2ACE/12159 Message Board Post: PJ Obit 8/29/2004 Bertha Jeannette Spooner Willsie, 83, died Saturday (Aug. 28, 2004) in the home of her daughter in Raleigh, N.C. She was born on May 15, 1921, in the town of Harmony, the daughter of Frank William and Jeannette Clarissa Bergstresser Spooner. A lifelong resident of Chautauqua County, she was a 1938 graduate and valedictorian of the former Lakewood High School. She earned a bachelor's of arts degree from The College of Wooster, Wooster, Ohio, where she was a member of Phi Sigma Iota and Phi Beta Kappa. She earned a master's of arts degree in French from Cornell University in 1947, and did graduate work in Spanish at Western Reserve University, the University of Havana, the State University of Buffalo, and St. Bonaventure University. She had been employed as a teacher of English, Latin and Spanish at various schools in Chautauqua County, including Bemus Point Central, Alfred University Extension, Falconer High School, Panama Central, and Jamestown High School. From 1964 until retirement in 1976, she was head of the foreign language department for the Jamestown Public School system. Following retirement, she as she taught summer classes at Chautauqua Institution, led the Spanish conversation group at the Chautauqua Women's Club, and did private tutoring. She was a charter member of the Elizabeth Warner Marvin House, in Jamestown, where she served both as a member of the junior board and the governing board. She was an active member and past matron of Acanthus Chapter 127 Order of the Eastern Star, where she served as district deputy in 1988 and as secretary for a number of years. In earlier years, she was a member of the First Methodist Church in Jamestown, and in later years, a 50-year member of the Hurlbut Memorial Community Church in Chautauqua, where she was an active member, taught Sunday School, helped with junior church, served as chair of the administrative board and as a member of numerous committees. She was a member American Organist Guild, a life member of the International Order of King's Daughters and Sons, and a life membership of the New York State Retired Teachers' Association. She served as president and chairperson of the scholarship committee for Kappa Chapter of Delta Kappa Gamma, an international honorary society for women in education, and was a member of the Board of Education for Chautauqua Central School from 1972 to 1977, and recognized in Outstanding Educators of America and Who's Who in American Women. She was also a member of the Jamestown Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution, the Fenton Historical Society, and the Chautauqua Historical Society. Most importantly, Bertha had an abiding sense of doing right by others and maintained this as a focus for all of her endeavors. She was a loving and faithful daughter, sister, wife, mother, aunt, grandmother and friend, and her lessons of hard work, determination, faith and unfailing commitment to her family are cherished by those she leaves behind. A life-long animal lover, Bertha also leaves behind two faithful cats, Thomasina and Caspian, who looked after her to the end. She is survived by a daughter, Anita Willsie Kerr of Raleigh; and two granddaughters: Jeannette Clarissa Peregrine Kerr and Catharine Vida Kerr. She was preceded in death by her husband, Robert L. Willsie, whom she married June 30, 1951, and who died in 1994; and a sister, Bonita Enid Spooner Nearpass, who died in 1979. The funeral service and Holy Eucharistic will be celebrated at 2 p.m. today in The Church of the Nativity, 8849 Ray Road, Raleigh. A service will also be held at 2 p.m. Saturday in the Lind Funeral Home. Burial will be in Magnolia Cemetery.