Violet Wheeler

GRAYRIDGE - Violet E. Wheeler, 98, died Dec. 8, 2003, at Missouri Delta Medical Center in Sikeston.

Born July 30, 1905, in Hunterville, daughter of the late Wilburn and Harriett Rosabelle Lafferty Brinson, she lived in Grayridge most of her life. She attended the Grayridge General Baptist Church, where she was a Sunday school teacher for more than 40 years. A former member of Order of the Eastern Star in Essex, she was past president of the Stoddard County Missouri Extension Homemakers Club.

On Sept. 12, 1922, in Grayridge, she married Harry Ernest Wheeler who preceded her in death on May 6, 1988.

Survivors include: two sons, Robert James Wheeler of Flint, Mich., and Wilber S. Wheeler of Essex; two daughters, Margaret Eleanor Moore of Tulsa, Okla., and Wanda Ruth Beard of Warrensburg; and 12 grandchildren, 19 great-grandchildren and eight great-great-grandchildren.

Also preceding her in death were one daughter in infancy, Dorothy May Wheeler; and three brothers and three sisters.

Visitation is from 5 to 8 p.m. Thursday at Watkins and Sons Funeral Home in Dexter, where services are scheduled for 2 p.m. Friday. The Rev. Harold Beard of Warrensburg, the Rev. Doyle Corlew of Dexter and the Rev. Robert Lafferty of Bloomfield will officiate.

Burial will follow in the Essex Cemetery.