EARL R. BLESSING

ANNA, Ill. -- Funeral service for Earl R. Blessing of Anna will be held at 1 p.m. Thursday at Crain Funeral Chapel here. The Rev. Al Slayter will officiate, with burial in Evergreen Cemetery at Makanda.

Friends may call at the funeral home from 5-8 p.m. today.

Blessing, 89 years old, died Monday, Jan. 7, 1991, at City Care Center.

He was born Feb. 7, 1901, at Makanda, son of William and Emma Ferguson Blessing. He and the former Delphia Sprouse were married in 1920. She died Oct. 7, 1942.

Blessing was a retired guard from Menard Correctional Center in Chester, and member of First Baptist Church there.

Survivors include two sons, Jim Blessing of Anna, Carl Blessing of Shawnee, Kan.; a brother, Glenn Blessing of Peoria; five grandchildren, and eight great-grandchildren.

He was preceded in death by a son, Jack Blessing, in 1984; several brothers and sisters.