Mary Ethel (Schoonover) Ness

Mary Ethel Ness of Cook Station, MO passed from this earth into heaven on Tuesday, March 14, 2017 at the St. James Living Center in St. James, MO.

Mary was born April 10, 1921 in Crawford County Missouri to the union of James William Schoonover and Ethel Naomi Cotton. She Married Wayne Roy Ness September 6, 1937 in Steelville, MO.

She is survived by her daughters: Mary Frances Malone of Seaton, MO and Ruth Wayne Asher and husband, Jackson of St. James, MO; Daughter-in-laws: Joyce (Doss) Ness of Freistat, MO and Anita Kay (Whitson) Ness of Paris, MO; two sons: Dewey Wade Ness and wife Sandra Faith (Douglas) of St. James, MO and Larry Bryan and Ruth Ann (Williams) of Cook Station, MO; and 11 grandchildren and 18 great grandchildren and 2 great great grandchildren with many nieces and nephews.

She is preceded in death by her parents, James and Ethel Schoonover; her husband, Wayne R. Ness; two sons: Stanley Roy Ness and Gary Dale Ness; three brothers: Henry, Theodore, and James; three sisters: Melvina Pearl Dace, Alna Lucille (Hawkins) Hedrick and Billie Ellen Harman; and one son-in-law, Gilbert B. Malone.

Mary and Wayne bought the Polly Jones farm in the early 1940s where they raised their family and farmed. Mom loved to hunt squirrels. She would sit under a mulberry or a hickory tree for hours shooting squirrels with a 22 rifle. She just enjoyed being in the woods. She enjoyed quilting; she belonged to a quilting club with neighborhood ladies for many years. She was always gardening, hunting mushrooms, and working with the kids on the farm raising cattle while Wayne worked at Wagner Electric in St. Louis.

Mary started writing The Benton Creek News for the Steelville Star in the ’80s and continued to do so up to a few years ago.

Mary and Wayne loved to travel. They have seen from the Atlantic to the Pacific and from Canada to Mexico. They visited lots of interesting places, like Yellow Stone National Park, Grand Canyon, Devil’s Tower, Niagara Falls, Yosemite National Park, the Florida Keys and the Smokey Mountains.

Visitation for Mary Ness will be 6-8 PM Friday, March 17th at Jones Funeral Home in St. James.

Funeral services will be conducted 10 AM Saturday, March 18, 2017 at the Jones Funeral Home Chapel in St. James, MO with Wilber and Leroy Ness officiating. Pallbearers will be Bryan Ness, Jason Ness, Andy Ness, Kyle Malone, Matthew Malone, and Mike Thompson. Honorary pallbearers will be Kenneth Asher and Ray Hawkins. Burial will be in the Asher Cemetery.

Memorials may be made to St. James Caring Center and Missouri Veterans Home.

All arrangements are under the direction of Jones Funeral Home in St. James, MO.

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