Bessie E. Gass, 97

Bessie E. Gass, 97, passed away Sunday morning, March 5, 2006, at Riverside Health Care Center after a brief illness.

Bessie was born Dec. 12, 1908, to Carl and Hulda Anderson of Georgetown, Texas, the second youngest of 10 children.

On Jan. 19, 1945, she married George B. Gass in San Diego. The couple lived in Tacoma, Wash., before setting in Joplin in 1946.

Bessie cooked at Joplin School for 13 years, retiring in 1969. The couple then moved to Whitefish in 1974, and to Kansas in 1980, returning to Whitefish in 1985, and settling in Hamilton in 1991.

She was a member of the Joplin Lutheran Church and attended Christ Lutheran Church in Whitefish.

Preceding her in death was her husband, George, in 1994.

She is survived by her son, John Gass, of Missoula; daughter, Sharon, and her husband, Richard Bruce, of Turah; two grandsons and one granddaughter; sister in-law, Lilla St. Pierre of Missoula; and nieces and nephews in Texas and Kansas.

The family suggests that memorials be made to Riverside Health Care Center, 1301 E. Broadway, Missoula, MT 59801.

Graveside services will be at 1:30 p.m. today, March 9, at Glacier Memorial Gardens in Kalispell, with the Rev. John Dent officiating.