Elizabeth Petty

ESSEX - Mary Elizabeth Petty, 71, died Feb. 12, 2007, at Southeast Missouri Hospital in Cape Girardeau.

Born Feb. 7, 1936, at Frisco, to the late Hubert L. and Mildred Lillian Swinger, she was a member of the Broadwater Church of the Brethren, where she served as organist and treasurer for 40 years. She was a former language arts teacher in the Richland Public School District for 35 years, a member of the Stoddard County Retired Teachers Association, had worked with Tri-County Counseling, served as a Girl Scout leader for 10 years and was a district clerk for the Missouri/Arkansas Church of the Brethren.

On Dec. 27, 1955, at Frisco, she married Charles Petty, who survives of the home in Essex.

Other survivors include: one son, Danny Petty of Essex; one daughter, Marie Froman of Patterson; two sisters, Dorothy Nicholson of St. Joseph and Harriett Swinger of Jefferson City; and one grandson, Zach Petty of Bell City.

Visitation is from 5-8 p.m. Thursday at Rainey-Mathis Funeral Home in Dexter, where services will be conducted at 10:30 a.m. Friday. The Revs. Harold Gass and Cynthia Sanders will officiate.

Burial will follow in the Chalk Bluff Cemetery.