Bessie Lenora Bartley died in Springfield, MO on April 3, 2014, at the age of 100 years, 7 months. She was born at her family’s farm near Leshara, Nebraska (Saunders County), on August 31, 1913. Her parents were Harvey Hamilton and Johanna Gocken Hamilton.

Bessie shared memories of growing up on a productive 80 acre farm, before there was electricity or running water. She attended a one-room country school during her early years, and later drove a horse and buggy to high school in Leshara, Nebraska. She graduated, with a class of 4, in 1931.

Bessie married Lee Bartley, from Dora, Missouri on Feb. 8, 1935. They moved to Hutchinson, Kansas, where Lee had a job with an oil company. Later, they bought a trolley car that housed a small cafe/diner, and served meals to truckers who were passing through the area. They sold out and moved back to Omaha, Nebraska, where their first son, Gerald, was born in 1940. During World War II, they followed construction jobs associated with the war effort in Topeka, KS, Oklahoma City, Lake Charles, Louisiana, and the ship yards in Bremerton, Washington, where their second son, James, was born in 1945. After the war ended, the family returned to Omaha, Nebraska, where Bessie helped her husband manage his successful construction business. In 1952, they moved to a 160 acre farm they had purchased near Ashland, Nebraska, where they farmed for 18 years. In 1969, they retired and moved to Springfield, MO. Lee died on October 19, 1992. In 2006, Bessie moved to Creekside at Elfindale, where she resided until after her 100th birthday on August 31, 2014.

Bessie is survived by her two sons, Gerald and James, four grandsons and three great-grandsons. A funeral service will be held on Saturday, April 12, at 1:00 pm at Greenlawn Funeral Home South, 414 West Battlefield, in Springfield. Visitation will be at the funeral home on Friday, April 11 from 6 to 8 pm. Burial will be at the White Chapel Memorial Gardens, 5234 West State Hwy E E, Springfield, MO.