Former Bollinger County recorder Ossig recalled as outgoing, meticulous

MARBLE HILL, Mo. -- By the time she retired in 2006, former Bollinger County Recorder Winonah "Sissy" Ossig had finished her career where she started -- in the office of the Recorder of Deeds. She had spent her 44-year career in the Bollinger County Courthouse.

Friend Carole Abernathy, of Bollinger County Abstract Co., said Ossig, who died July 16, was a meticulous, precise, neat person.

"She had the most beautiful handwriting," Abernathy said. "Everything had to be in order; she was very neat. She was very detailed. When the assessment program began, she would do meticulous descriptions and deciphering. Without her the program would not be set up as well as it is now."

Abernathy, who had known Ossig for 32 years, said she loved fashion and jewelry and always looked her best every time she went out. She spent a lot of her time researching her family's genealogy, and had collected many photographs of her family.

Mary Filer Hager, now with the Cape Girardeau County assessor's office, worked with Ossig and said she had known her since 1984.

"She was outgoing and fun," Hager said. "She was just bubbly and funny. She knew everyone and every story about every person in the county, knew who everybody was related to. She always had something funny to tell about somebody."

She was born Oct. 11, 1942, at Cape Girardeau, daughter of Merrell J. and Medford Lutye "Pete" Propst Taylor. She and Edward "Tom" Ossig Jr. were married in 1965.

Ossig was a founding member of the Bollinger County Historical Society, Genealogy Society and a member of the First Baptist Church in Marble Hill.

Survivors include her husband and a brother, Richard A. Taylor of Jackson. She was preceded in death by her parents and a brother, Merrell "Appy" Taylor.

The funeral was at 1 p.m. Saturday at Liley Funeral Home, with the Rev. Fred Ritter officiating. Burial was in Bollinger County Memorial Park Cemetery.