Jessie Shugarts Rishel, 93, of Clearfield died peacefully Sunday, Nov. 24, 2013 at her home with her children and caregiver by her bedside.
She was born March 15, 1920, in Bryson City, NC, the youngest of 16 children of Benjamin A. and Charlotte (Freeman) Breedlove.
She graduated from Murphy High School in 1940. During World War II, she worked with the Signal Corps in Fort Monmouth, NJ and Bendex Radio Corp. in Baltimore, MD.
She met and married Lloyd Shugarts in Baltimore, MD in 1943 and celebrated 48 years with him before his death in 1991. In 1997, she married Cecil Rishel. They were happily married until his death one year later in 1998.
She was a devoted wife, mother and homemaker and was also a bookkeeper with O.J. Shugarts Garage.
She was a member of the West Side United Methodist Church. She was a member of Sunday School Class No. 16, United Methodist Women, the Bazaar Committee and Circle Sarah. She and her family were former members of the Mount Hope Church.
She will be remembered as an active, outgoing, fun-loving woman. She belonged to many organizations, such as the Eastern Star, Senior Extension, Woodland Senior Citizen Group, XYZ Widows/Widowers of West Side Church, Hobby Garden Club, Red Hat Trotters and the Chinklacamoose Square Dance Club. She loved to host picnics and parties and to invite women to a group they called The Merry Widows.
She’s survived by two daughters and a son, Shirley Bennett of Clearfield and Patricia Chnupa and her husband, Gary of Lancaster and Gary Shugarts of Clearfield. Also surviving are four grandchildren, Erik Bennett and his wife, Jennifer of Texas, Kimberly Lansberry and her husband, Rick of Clearfield, Adam Chnupa of York and Michelle Chnupa of Delaware; seven great-grandchildren, Jeremiah, David, Michael, Abigail, Izabella, Kylie and Greyson; and numerous nieces, nephews and in-laws who all loved her.
She was the last member of her generation and was preceded in death by her parents; her first husband, Lloyd Shugarts; her second husband, Cecil Rishel and six brothers and nine sisters.
Funeral services will be held at 11 a.m. Wednesday at the Bennett and Houser Funeral Home Inc., 312 E. Locust St., Clearfield, with the Rev. Dr. Joleen A. Willis officiating. Burial will follow at the Crown Crest Memorial Park, Hyde.
Friends will be received from 2 p.m. – 4 p.m. and from 6 p.m. – 8 p.m. Tuesday and from 10 a.m. until the hour of the services Wednesday at the funeral home.
The family suggests memorial contributions be made to the American Cancer Society, 26 S. Second St., Clearfield, PA 16830 or to the Clearfield Foundation for Health-Hospice, P.O. Box 992, Clearfield, PA 16830 or to the West Side United Methodist Church, Kitchen of Care Fund, 317 Nichols St., Clearfield, PA 16830.
Her children wish to express their great appreciation to Roberta Stucke for her faithful and loving care for the past three years; to Michelle Coon for her overnight stays that gave peace-of-mind; and to the nurses and staff of Clearfield Hospice.
To send online tributes go to www.bennettandhouser.com or www.mem.com.