Beatrice Elizabeth Messick's Obituary
After a long and full life, Beatrice Elizabeth Messick, 97, of Locust Grove, Virginia passed away Wednesday, July 4, 2012, at the Robinson Home for Independent Living in Spotsylvania, Virginia. She was born September 25, 1914 in Hanford, California to James Laurence Smith and Emma Lee Smith. She was the last survivor of four children, including two older sisters Eloise Coe and Virginia Seidel, and a younger brother Laurence W. Smith, M.D.
She survived three husbands. Her first husband, who passed away in 1962, was retired U.S. Navy Chief Shipfitter and certified diver Byron Dishon, with whom she had two children, Linda Elaine Lindenauer, currently of Locust Grove, Virginia and William Byron Dishon, currently of Hanford, California. Her second husband, who passed away in 1985, was retired operating engineer Emerson T. Ferrell of Salem, Missouri, survived by his daughter from an earlier marriage Emma Jean Garcia. Her third husband, who passed away in 2004, was inventor, entrepreneur and high school sweetheart William E. Messick of Selma, California, who was predeceased by his daughter Linda Jones and survived by his son, William H. Messick, Jr., stepson Timothy Kellogg, stepdaughters Marilyn Bathauer, Janice Beyer, and Laurelei Winn. She is also survived by two granddaughters, Lisa E. Covington of Fredericksburg, Virginia and Jennifer A. Lindenauer of Arlington, Virginia, two great-grandsons Ryan and Aaron Clark of Stafford, Virginia, two great-granddaughters Luci and Julia Harris of Arlington, Virginia, and a great-great grandson Oliver Clark of Stafford, Virginia.
Following graduation from high school, she was trained as a newspaper typesetter and worked in that capacity with her father’s newspaper in Armona, California during the 1930s. After WW II, she worked for her brother, an ophthalmologist, as an optical assistant.
As a young woman, she accepted Jesus Christ as her Lord and Savior at the First Baptist Church in Hanford, California, where she sang in the choir and was involved in other Church activities. In later years, she was active in the Hanford Women’s Club and served for a time as an officer. During her marriage to William Messick, she was a member of the First Baptist Church in Selma, California.
Memorial services will be held at 11:00 AM on Tuesday, July 17, 2012 at Found & Son Funeral Chapel, 10719 Courthouse Road, Fredericksburg, Virginia 22407. Interment with her late husband William Messick will take place at a later date at Smith Mountain Cemetery, Dinuba, California.
Flowers are welcome, or memorial donations may be made to the First Baptist Church of Hanford, California or to the First Baptist Church of Selma, California.
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