Sherri D. McIntosh
Sherri D. McIntosh of Clark died Saturday, March 31, 2001. She was 56.
Ms. McIntosh was born Aug. 19, 1944, in Marion, Ind., to Joseph D. and Maxine A. Coffell McIntosh. She graduated from Fairmont High School in Fairmont, Ind.
She worked as a certified dental assistant for 33 years, most recently for Dr. Daniel Menze of Moberly.
Ms. McIntosh was a member of the National Dental Assistants Society and the Indiana and Missouri Dental Assistants Association. She was recognized in 1996 as one of 10 Veterans Administration Expanded Duty Assistants in the United States.
She was also employed with Home Care of Mid-Missouri.
Ms. McIntosh was a member of New Hope United Methodist Church and United Methodist Women. She was also a certified lay speaker.
A memorial service will be held Saturday at New Hope United Methodist Church in Clark. Burial will follow at the church cemetery.
Ms. McIntosh is survived by Carol Kribbs of the home; one brother, Joseph W. McIntosh of Columbus, Ga.; two sisters, Dorotha D. Mack of Marion, Ind., and Sally Kay Wingo of Mayfield, Ky.; and several nieces and nephews.
Her parents died earlier.
Memorials may be sent to the American Cancer Society, 33 E. Broadway, Suite 100, Columbia, MO 65203; Home Care of Mid-Missouri, 102 W. Reed, Moberly, MO 65270; or New Hope United Methodist Church, Clark, MO 65243.
Barbara Ann Pate
Barbara Ann Pate of Columbia died Tuesday, April 17, 2001, at The Williamsburg retirement home after fighting emphysema and asthma for more than 10 years. She was 62.
Mrs. Pate was born May 23, 1938, in Arizona. She worked for a telephone company and then for a title company in California after retirement.
Junior Pate, her husband, said he and Barbara Ann loved to travel and go dancing at the Eagles on Stadium Boulevard.
"We used to go see my parents in Tennessee and her family in California," he said.
Pate remembers his wife fondly.
"She was an all-around good person," he said. "She was very special."
Graveside services will be held at 10 a.m. Friday at Roane Memorial Cemetery in Lawnville, Tenn., under the direction of Nilson Funeral Home.
Mrs. Pate is survived by her husband; a son, Anthony Strieff of San Diego; four brothers, Joe Absher of Chicago, George Absher and Don Absher, both of Bakersfield, Calif., and Bennie Absher of Tennessee; two sisters, Edith O'Neal of Mountain Valley, Calif., and Clara Minarick of Fresno, Calif.
Urban Gantner
Urban Gantner of Boonville died Monday, April 16, 2001, at Cooper County Memorial Hospital. He was 75.
Mr. Gantner was born in Florida on May 27, 1925, to Urban and Rylie Gantner. He served in the Army during World War II in France. He was a brick mason and a member of Sts. Peter and Paul Catholic Church in Boonville.
Graveside services, conducted by the Rev. Pat Dolan, will be at 10 a.m. Thursday at Sts. Peter and Paul Cemetery in Boonville.
Mr. Gantner is survived by friends Robert and LeeAnn Barrett and their son, Alex Barrett, of Boonville.
John Ritchie
John Ritchie, formerly of Sturgeon, died Sunday, April 15, 2001, in Seattle. He was 87.
Mr. Ritchie was born May 7, 1913, in Sturgeon to Leon and Beulah Ritchie. He graduated from Sturgeon High School in 1930. He received a bachelor's degree from MU and attended graduate school in accounting and business.
He taught math and business at Sturgeon High School, Hamilton High School and Central High School in Jackson, Miss. He began working for the General Accounting Office in Washington in 1941. During his 31 years there, he traveled across the country. Mr. Ritchie received the GAO Meritorious Service Award in 1967. He retired in 1972.
After retiring, Mr. Ritchie and his wife, Virginia, who were married for more than 60 years, moved to New Mexico and later to Warrensburg. While in Warrensburg, the Ritchies managed an office supply store. In 1999, they moved to Seattle to be close to their son and grandsons.
Everywhere he lived, Mr. Ritchie was an active member of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). He held the positions of deacon, elder, trustee and department head.
A memorial service for Mr. Ritchie will be held at 2 p.m. today at the Meador & Son Funeral Home at Ogden and Davis streets in Sturgeon. Mr. Ritchie's body will be cremated.
Mr. Ritchie is survived by his wife; two brothers, Marion and Truman Ritchie, both of Sturgeon; one sister, Eugenia Crain of Warrensburg; one son, James Ritchie of Seattle; and two grandsons, Sloan D. Ritchie and Alexander C. Ritchie of Seattle.
Memorials can be sent to the First Christian Church, 101 E. Gay St., Warrensburg, Mo. 64093 or to Sturgeon Christian Church, P.O. Box 305, Sturgeon, Mo. 65284.
Ruth E. Amburgey
Ruth Emily Amburgey, formerly of Columbia, died April 6, 2001, at Tucson Medical Center in Tucson, Ariz.
Mrs. Amburgey was born in Corydon, Ky., to Silas H. and Florilla Louise Randolph Sides. She was the seventh of eight children.
Mrs. Amburgey was raised in Columbia where she graduated from the School of Nursing at the University of Missouri. She met her husband while working as a registered nurse in Columbia.
She married Lyman R. Amburgey of Tucson on Nov. 9, 1941.
"She loved to cook and enjoyed music," her daughter Ann Swanson said. "She could play almost anything by sound on the piano."
Swanson added that her mother wanted to be buried with her parents in Columbia.
Services, conducted by the Rev. Anne Swanson, will be at 1 p.m. on Wednesday at Memorial Funeral Home, 1217 Business Loop 70 W.
Burial will follow at Memorial Park Cemetery.
Mrs. Amburgey is survived by her husband; a son, Robert Maryland Amburgey of Puyallup, Wash.; three daughters, Julia Ruth Sherry and Elizabeth Louise Marcoux, both of Tucson, Ariz., and Anne Hamilton Swanson of Castro Valley, Calif.; two brothers, Paul Sides of Lancaster, Ky., and Silas Sides of Troy, Ill.; a sister, Florilla Davis of Columbia; 13 grandchildren and one great-grandchild.
Three brothers and a sister died earlier.
Memorials may be sent to Trinity Presbyterian Church Music Fund, 400 E. University Blvd., Tucson, AZ 85719.
Walter D. Keller
A memorial service for Walter D. Keller will be held at 4 p.m. Friday in Walter D. Keller Auditorium in the Geology Building on the MU campus.
Mr. Keller died Friday, March 23, 2001, at Phelps County Hospital in Rolla. Burial was in Gilliam Cemetery near Greenwood, Ark., on March 28, 2000.
Jerry D. Luna
Jerry D. Luna of Auxvasse died Saturday, April 14, 2001, at his home. He was 54.
Mr. Luna was born Feb. 15, 1947 in Pottersville, Mo. He graduated from Triad High School in St. Jacob, Ill., in 1965. He married Lynda Bean in December 1966 but later married Janet Webber on Dec. 27, 1991.
Mr. Luna was drafted after high school and served as an ordinanceman in the U.S. Navy on the U.S.S. Kittyhawk Aircraft Carrier. He received an honorable discharge in 1972.
"He was close to a lot of bombing that happened in Hanoi," his son Jason Luna said. "He liked watching the planes take off at night."
In 1969, Mr. Luna moved to Troy, Ill., from San Diego and worked for United Parcel Service in St. Louis. He worked the Columbia Mall route when he moved to Auxvasse in 1991. He retired in March after more than 30 years of service.
"They loved him in the mall," Jason Luna said. "They announced it in the mall after he died."
Mr. Luna joked that he didn't have a day off during his first week of retirement because he had so many retirement parties to attend, Jason Luna said.
"They held a party for him down at the Garfield's, the UPS guys had a party for him out on the lot his last night, and the mall management and even J.C. Penney's had a party for him," Jason Luna said.
Mr. Luna is survived by his second wife Janet Luna; two sons, Jason Luna of Auxvasse and Richard Luna in Fenton; three stepsons Keith Weber, Kurt Weber, Kent Weber, all of Auxvasse; and three grandchildren.
His parents and two brothers died earlier.
Visitation for Mr. Luna will be from 6 to 8 p.m. today at Maupin Funeral Home in Fulton. Services, conducted by the Rev. Windle Kee, will be at 1 p.m. Wednesday at Maupin Funeral Home. He will be buried in the Auxvasse Cemetery in Auxvasse.
Memorials may be sent to the American Heart Association Missouri Affiliate, P.O. Box 30638, Columbia, Mo., 65205 or to the Rainbow House for Abused and Neglected Children, 2302 Oakland Gravel Road, Columbia, Mo., 65202.
Wanda Sue Vemer
Wanda Sue Vemer of Columbia died Saturday, April 14, 2001, of cancer. She was 58.
She was born Jan. 31, 1943, in Columbia to Ernest Edward and Josephine Angeline Nelson Driskill.
In May of 1961, she married Robert Selby Vemer in Columbia.
Mrs. Vemer was employed with the MU Records and Transcripts Department.
Visitation for Mrs. Vemer will be from 6 to 8 p.m. today at Memorial Funeral Home, 1217 Business Loop 70 W. Services, conducted by the Rev. Dennis Swearngin, will be 3 p.m. Wednesday at Memorial Funeral Home. Burial will follow at Memorial Park Cemetery.
Mrs. Vemer is survived by her mother, Josephine Driskill of Columbia; a daughter, Tammy Lynn Armentrout of Columbia; a sister, Barbara Hanks of Camdenton; and two grandchildren, Ashley and Kayla Armentrout.
Her husband and her father died earlier.
Memorials may be sent to the American Cancer Society, 33 E. Broadway, Suite 100, Columbia, MO 65203.
Everett E. Keith
It's not every day the governor declares a week in honor of someone. But Everett E. Keith was no ordinary person.
Upon Mr. Keith's retirement from the Missouri State Teachers Association in 1972, Gov. Warren Hearnes issued a proclamation declaring "Everett Keith Week."
Known to the Missouri teaching community as Mr. Education, Mr. Keith died Thursday, April 12, 2001, at Boone Hospital Center. He was 94.
"When you think of Missouri education, the first name that comes to your mind is Everett Keith," said Dean Richard Andrews of the MU College of Education.
Mr. Keith dedicated more than 40 years of service to education. He began teaching in 1926 in his hometown of Buffalo, where he was born on Sept. 1, 1906, to William Anderson and Nora Woods Keith.
Mr. Keith married Anne Catherine Blanchard in Humansville on June 1, 1933.
Mr. Keith worked as an elementary school teacher, a high school teacher and a principal as well as a superintendent. He served as the first president of the Missouri State Board of Education and was appointed state commissioner of education. Mr. Keith also spent 31 years as executive secretary of the Missouri State Teachers Association.
"He generously gave of his time and energy," Andrews said. "He breathed commitment to quality education for kids."
Mr. Keith helped make education a government priority at the 1945 Missouri constitutional convention, making it the No. 2 priority for the General Assembly's annual budget. He also engineered the state's teacher retirement system, which is still used today.
"His commitment to public education was personal," said Katherine Hanley, his daughter. "He always instilled in me the importance of education, my own and everybody's."
In 1999, Mr. Keith made a list of his leadership accomplishments. On it he included a quote from a 1961 Carnegie Foundation Study of the Missouri State Legislature that reads: "The most powerful lobby in the state of Missouri is quiet but almost unfailingly successful - the Missouri State Teachers Association."
Kent King, executive director of the Missouri State Teacher's Association, said Mr. Keith had a gentle but effective leadership style.
"He would never wear the crown, but he was the power behind the throne," King said. "Everett went out of his way to try to let people come to solutions on their own, even though he could have told them what to do right away."
Mildred Leaver, a friend for 76 years, described Mr. Keith as "a real Missouri gentleman."
"He had a devotion to everything he was called to do," Leaver said. "Everett was a fun person, a deep thinker, a hard worker and a true friend."
Mr. Keith was also a devoted fan of the St. Louis Cardinals.
By the time she was 15, Hanley said, she had visited nearly all the state capitals and major league baseball stadiums as a result of family vacations to conferences of the National Education Association and her father's love for baseball.
Mr. Keith continued to be active after his retirement. He gave much of his time to the Missouri Retired Teachers Association and also worked to promote senior citizens' issues. At age 89, Mr. Keith was a delegate to the White House Conference on Aging in 1995.
King said Mr. Keith never quit being a leader.
"The man made sense, even into his 90s," King said. "I look up to him and try to use his wisdom in the same manner that he used it. He taught me that you need to have patience and never cease in efforts. He never did."
Visitation for Mr. Keith will be held today from 6 to 8 p.m. at Parker Funeral Service, 22 N. Tenth St., and from 10 to 11 a.m. Monday at Missouri United Methodist Church, 204 S. Ninth St.
Services, conducted by the Rev. Jim Bryan, will be held Monday at 11 a.m. at the Missouri United Methodist Church. Mr. Keith will be buried in a private family ceremony Monday morning at Memorial Park Cemetery, 1217 Business Loop 70 W. Mr. Keith is survived by one daughter, Katherine Hanley of Falls Church, Va.; one brother, William H. Keith of Belton; and two grandchildren, Patrick Keith Hanley of Orlando, Fla. and Cecelia Anne Hanley of Columbia.
His wife died earlier.
Memorials may be sent to Missouri Retired Teachers Foundation, P.O. Box 7025 Columbia, Mo. 65205 or Missouri State Teachers Association Foundation, P.O. Box 458 Columbia, Mo. 65205.
Martha S. Barnes
Martha S. Barnes of Centralia died Thursday, April 12, 2001, at Stuart House Nursing Center in Centralia. She was 81.
Mrs. Barnes was born Feb. 1, 1920, in Columbia to Albert W. and Cleo Penberton Rummons.
"She was very quiet, but full of fun," her cousin, Lois Grinstead, said. "She was always considerate of others."
Mrs. Barnes, whom close friends called "Mopsy" from the Peter Cottontail stories, worked as a printshop supervisor at Stephens College. "She was very good with typing," Grinstead said. "She was always very efficient and neat."
Mrs. Barnes married Milton Barnes on Jan. 8, 1943 in Kansas City.
Mrs. Barnes also loved to cook. Her cousin remembers her delicious chocolate pies. Mrs. Barnes was preceded in death by her husband and a brother.
There will be no services. Arrangements for Mrs. Barnes will be under the direction of Parker Funeral Service, 22 N. Tenth St.
Martha Schaeffer
Martha Godfrey Schaeffer of Bremerton, Wash., died Wednesday, March 21, 2001, of heart failure in her home. She was 56.
Mrs. Schaeffer taught history at Olympic College in Washington for 15 years and later practiced law there for 13 years.
Mrs. Schaeffer was born Aug. 19, 1944, in Wyoming, Iowa, to Paul and Dorothy Godfrey. She graduated from Hickman High School in 1962. She earned her bachelor's degree from MU in 1966 and her master's degree from the University of Oregon in 1968. Mrs. Schaeffer married Philip Schaeffer on June 28, 1969, in Columbia. They moved to Washington that year.
In 1987, she graduated from the University of Puget Sound Law School.
"She was really a loving and giving person," her sister, Charlotte Cole, said. "She was well-loved by her friends and the people she worked with.
"She loved helping people," Cole said. That's why, she said, Mrs. Schaeffer became a lawyer.
Mrs. Schaeffer enjoyed listening to classical music, reading mystery books and cooking fresh seafood.
She was a member of the A.H. Chapter of PEO and former president of Presbyterian Ministries Inc. She was also a member of the Central Kitsap Presbyterian Church. Services were held March 26 at Central Kitsap Presbyterian Church in Bremerton. Mrs. Schaeffer is survived by her husband, Philip Schaeffer of Bremerton; two sons, Kyle Schaeffer of Olympia, Wash., and Hugh Schaeffer of Buffalo, N.Y.; a twin brother, Paul Godfrey of New Windsor, N.Y.; and two sisters, Helen Gill of Springfield, Va., and Charlotte Cole of Mount Vernon.
Memorials may be sent to Central Kitsap Presbyterian Church, Music Fund, 9300 Nels Nelson Road NW, Bremerton, Wash., 98311 or to Olympic College Library, 1600 Chester Ave., Bremerton, Wash. 98337-1699.
