Loretta Crites

Loretta P. Crites, 99, of Whitewater passed away Thursday, Jan. 16, 2014, at Ratliff Care Center in Cape Girardeau.

She was born Jan. 4, 1915, in Whitewater, daughter of Louis and Mary Jane Hedge Rhodes. She and Arnold Francis Crites were married Aug. 22, 1940. He passed away April 25, 1989.

Loretta was valedictorian of the 1932 graduating class of Whitewater High School. She loved collecting frogs and creating stories about them.

She had been a postal clerk with the United States Postal Service. She was a member of First Baptist Church in Whitewater, where she had taught Sunday school, Bible school and was church treasurer several years. She was baptized in the Whitewater River by the Rev. A.J. Langston when she was saved in 1922.

Survivors include a son, Louis Crites of Imperial, Mo.; two daughters, Sheriann (Anthony) Hughey of Sullivan, Mo., and Marilyn Crites of Whitewater and her fiance, Jerry Palmer of Anna, Ill.; five grandchildren; and seven great-grandchildren.

She was preceded in death by her husband; parents; a brother, Milton; two sisters, Geneva Dirden and Amy Surlet; and grandson-in-law, Chad Erxleben.

Visitation will be from 10:30 a.m. to service time Monday at Liley Funeral Home in Marble Hill, Mo.

The funeral will be at 1 p.m. Monday at the funeral home, with the Rev. Verlee Eaker officiating. Burial will be in Hahn Chapel Cemetery near Marble Hill.