LAURA CHRISTIAN

BELL CITY, Mo. -- Funeral for Laura Belle Christian of Madison, Ill., will be held at 1 p.m. today at Chiles-Cooper Funeral Home in Bloomfield, Mo. The Rev. Kevin Eskew will officiate. Burial will be in Bloomfield Cemetery.

Christian, 77, died Friday, April 20, 2001, in St. Louis.

She was born Sept. 7, 1923, at Bell City, daughter of Sylvia and Edna Pritchett Roper. She and Harold Christian were married July 5, 1943.

Christian had lived in Madison the past 44 years. She worked several years at Famous-Barr.

Survivors include her husband; a son, Jerry Christian of Wappapello, Mo.; two daughters, Gale Cantlon and Laura Gibson of Granite City, Ill.; two brothers, Bonnie Roper of Swinton, Mo., Bo Roper of Bloomfield; eight grandchildren; 10 great-grandchildren; and a great-great-grandson.

She was preceded in death by her parents, a sister, and three brothers.