Celebrating the life of Genevieve Marie Vass Whitson
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Obituary for Genevieve Marie Vass Whitson
Genevieve Marie Vass Whitson, 96, formerly of rural Dallas City, Illinois, passed away at the Champaign County Nursing Home, Urbana, Illinois, on Saturday, October 6, 2018.
Born December 11, 1921, at the Myers family farm in Pontoosuc Township, near Colusa, Illinois, she was the daughter of Jacob Clay and Corinne Parmalee Smith Vass. She married James Robert Whitson on August 28, 1943, in New York City while he was on shore leave from the U.S. Navy during WWII.
Mrs. Whitson was an elementary teacher for 25 years with the last several years at Carthage, Illinois. During WWII she was employed for two summers at Indian Point Park, New York, along the Hudson River near the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Home. Aer her marriage she worked as a Social Security clerk for New York Central Realty Company in Manhattan, returning to Illinois when the war ended in Europe.
She was a graduate of Colusa High School, Class of 1939. She attended Indiana Central College in Indianapolis for her teacher’s certification and received her bachelor’s degree from Carthage College in 1964.
A lifelong member of the Colusa United Methodist Church where she served as pianist, financial secretary, and a lay delegate to the Church’s annual conference, she transferred her membership to Faith United Methodist in Champaign after moving from one side of Illinois to the other to be closer to family. She was a member of the United Methodist Women, past president of the Hancock County Retired Teachers Association, Alpha Delta Kappa Teachers Sorority, and the Hancock County Historical Society.
She was preceded in death by her parents, her husband, two sons-in-law (David Johnson, John Frey); five brothers-in-law (Owen Marshall, Robert Peter, Tom Kipping, David Lynch, Walter Whitson) and three sisters-in-law (Lorraine Whitson, Sarah Kipping, Bonnie Whitson).
Survivors include her sister, Patricia Lynch of Lakewood, Colorado, and three children, Roxanne Frey in Oakland, Illinois; Valerie Johnson in Rockford, Illinois; and Michael (Bonnie) Whitson in West Des Moines, Iowa. She is also mourned by five grandchildren, three step-grandchildren, six great- grandchildren, and 9 step-great-grandchildren as well as several brother and sisters-in-law and many nieces and nephews.
Cremation services were provided by Krabel Funeral Home in Oakland, Illinois. Interment and private graveside services will be held at the historic Byler Cemetery in Durham Township, Hancock County, Illinois.
Gifts in memory of Genevieve Whitson may be directed to the Hancock County Endowment of the Community Foundation, 4531 Maine, Suite A, Quincy, Illinois 62305.
