MARTHA E. BESS

PUXICO -- Funeral service for Martha E. Bess of Puxico will be held at 1 p.m. today at Watkins and Sons Funeral Chapel in Puxico, with the Rev. Steve Smith officiating. Burial will be in Memorial Park in Cape Girardeau.

Friends may call at the funeral home after 11 a.m. today.

Bess, 102, died Wednesday, Jan. 4, 1995, at Puxico Nursing Center.

She was born Jan. 27, 1892, in Wayne County, Ill., daughter of Wilbert C. and Laura K. Shaw Travers. She and the Rev. T.L. Bess were married Sept. 24, 1913, in Leora. He died Jan. 21, 1969.

Bess lived in Connecticut 10 years, but had lived in this area many years. She was a member of Puxico United Methodist Church.

Survivors include a sister, Mabel Doublin of Puxico; three grandchildren; seven great-grandchildren, and two great-great-grandchildren.

She was preceded in death by a daughter, four brothers and two sisters.