Surnames: Stratton, Vitoux, Westbay, Carlberg, Syth, Evert, Slingerland, Gee

----Source: Clark County Press (Neillsville, Clark Co., WI.) July 23, 2008

Stratton, Anna Marie (13 June 1920 - 20 July 2008)

Sunday, July 20, 2008, our dearly beloved mother, Anna Marie Stratton, left our arms and her earthly body and flew to the loving arms of her Lord, Jesus Christ. This morning the angels are rejoicing but oh how pitiful and mournful are her family and friends who loved her so dearly and who will miss her so sorely.

She was born Anna Marie Westbay June 13, 1920, in Porter Township, Porter County, IN, the daughter of Philenus and Anna Marie (Vitoux) Westbay. She was educated at Porter Crossroads School in Boone Grove, IN, and graduated with highest honors in 1938. She was united in marriage to Richard K. Stratton June 10, 1942, in Crown Point. They lived in Indiana, raised their family there and Anna Marie worked as a nurse’s aide until after Richard’s death in 1962 when she moved to Greenwood near her parent’s farm. While in Greenwood; she went to college at the University of Wisconsin-Marshfield, worked at the Neillsville Memorial Home and the Clark County Division of Aging. Later, she worked with her son at the Color Gallery in Marshfield. Anna Marie loved reading, writing stories and letters and attending church. She was a former member of the Bible Baptist Church in Neillsville.

Those who loved her dearly and mourn her death include her sons and daughters, Mavis R. Stratton Gee of Middletown, CT, Phillip and Deborah Stratton of Amarillo, TX, Richard and Deborah Stratton of Maryville, TN, Thomas and Paula Stratton of Janesville and Daniel and Belinda Stratton of Owen, along with their children (18 grandchildren), their children (29 great-grandchildren) and four great-great-grandchildren; her sisters, Irene Carlberg and Nancy Syth; many nieces and nephews; and countless dear friends.

Anna Marie was preceded in death by her husband, Richard K. Stratton; her parents, Anna Marie (Vitoux) and Philenus Westbay; her sisters, Mavis Renee Westbay, Edna Evert and Pauline Slingerland; her brother, Bud Westbay; and two grandchildren, Ray Ray Gee and Katie Stratton.

Visitation for Anna Marie Stratton will be held at the Cuddie Funeral Home in Greenwood Friday, July 25, 2008, from 5 p.m. until 8 p.m., and Saturday, July 26, at 10 a.m. until her funeral at 11 a.m. Burial will follow in the Greenwood City Cemetery. Pallbearers will be her grandsons.