- Date Of Birth: October 1, 1919
- Date Of Death: September 7, 2011
- State: Iowa
Mary Ellen “Ansley” Reeves, 91, was born October 1, 1919, in Chariton, Iowa to William Francis “Frank” Ansley and Sadie Frances Morris and left this life on September 7, 2011. She was born at the home of her maternal grandparents, Sam and Ellen Morris across the street from the old Columbus School just as the school bell was ringing the start of the new day – she always enjoyed telling that story. She was raise in a log cabin her dad built south of Woodburn, Iowa. When she was about 13 she and her dad were both baptized in the running water at Whitebreast Creek. That too was an important memory for her.
She graduated from Chariton High School in 1939 and attended summer school in Cedar Falls, Iowa to get her teaching certificate. She taught for a couple years in Winterset and Whitebreast Center in Lucas County. It was while she was teaching at Whitebreast Center that she met the man she would marry – William Clinton Reeves. She decided teaching was not the career for her and in 1943 joined her sister Esther in Washington D.C. where she worked for the department of the Army as a key-punch operator in the payroll department. In 1944 she returned to Chariton and she and Clinton were married July 14, 1944.
Two daughters were born to them; Mary Louise Reeves of Russell and Catherine Whited of Creston, Iowa, who survive her. She is also survived by her grandson Brian Whited; her sister Esther Whitehair of Crownsville, MD; her brother Oliver Ansley and his wife Deloris of Murray, Iowa; many nieces, nephews and cousins. She referred cousins Sheryl and Andy Simatovich of Ferguson, Iowa as her “adopted son and daughter.”
She was preceded in death by her husband, parents and two brothers; William Grant Ansley and Emerson Ansley
Her family was the most important thing in her life and that included all the aunts, uncles, brothers, sisters, nieces, nephews and cousins as well as her husband and children. Genealogy was a life-long hobby. Whether or not you wanted to know she could give you the family tree of just about anybody she ever knew.
She loved it when she could beat her grandson at WII bowling. She enjoyed reading, knitting and crocheting and was an excellent carpenter. She liked to travel but not the getting ready to go. She especially enjoyed her trip to Israel in 1983 and even rode a camel while she was there.
Health issues plagued her in the last years and she spent those in the Creston Nursing and Rehab Center. She enjoyed the people she met there and the people who cared for her. It became “home” to her where she enjoyed her table companions, the crafts she did there, the jigsaw puzzles they worked and the other activities they provided.
She was listening to music when she quietly and peacefully left us. We’ll miss her.
