OBITUARIES

Bertha M. Harris
Bertha M. Harris of Xenia died on Thursday, March 20, in her residence. She was 92.
She was born March 19, 1911, in Xenia, the daughter of George Corbett and Martha Brown.
Ms. Harris was a member of the Middle Run Baptist Church, where she served most of her life. During her later years she attended Church of Jesus Worship Center and Bethel Apostolic Temple.
She was preceded in death by her parents; her husbands, John A. Thomas and Oran Harris Sr.; one sister, Rosa Williford; three brothers, Lawson, Monroe and Leroy Corbett; one son, Phillip Thomas; four stepchildren, Alice Jackson, Phyllis Robinson, Oran Harris Jr. and William Harris.
She is survived by one son and daughter-in-law, John A. and Anne Thomas of Springfield; two daughters and sons-in-law, Sandra K. and Stanley Hudson of Corona, Calif., and Joan E. and Steve Moore of Xenia; two stepchildren and their spouses, Dale and Judy Harris of Yellow Springs and Ronald and Sue Harris of Las Vegas; one sister-in-law, Velma Corbett of Xenia; 19 grandchildren, 32 great-grandchildren, three great-great grandchildren and a host of nieces, nephews and friends.
Funeral services were held on Wednesday, March 26, at Bethel Temple with burial in Cherry Grove Cemetery in Xenia. Final tributes are a service of the Porter-Qualls Funeral Home.

Jeanne P. Lawson
Jeanne P. Lawson of Yellow Springs died Monday, March 24, in Greene Oaks Care Center. She was 79.
Born Aug. 27, 1923, in Springfield, she was the daughter of Gibson and Georgia (Kennedy) Arnold.
Mrs. Lawson retired from Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, where she served as a logistics manager.
She was a member of St. John Missionary Baptist Church, where she served on the Willing Workers. She was a member of the Senior Choir, Mass Choir and the Retirement Set, membership chairwoman. She was also a member of the Greene County Culture Club and an avid bowler.
She was preceded in death by her parents; her husband, Nathaniel Lawson; one son, Gerald Lawson; one sister, Lucy Perry; and one grandson, Justin Lawson.
She is survived by one daughter-in-law, Dr. Katherine E. “Kitty” Lawson of Germantown, Tenn.; two sons and a daughter-in-law, Terry E. Lawson of Yellow Springs and Gary L. and Kim Lawson of Yellow Springs; four grandchildren, Jordan Lawson of Germantown, Tenn., Barry Lawson, Terry Lawson Jr. and Gary Lawson, all of Yellow Springs; and a host of nieces, nephews, cousins and friends.
Visitation will be held tomorrow (Friday), 11 a.m.–1 p.m., at St. John Missionary Baptist Church. The family will be present from noon until the service at 1 p.m., with Rev. Vern Mullin officiating. Dr. Rev. John Freeman of Central Chapel A.M.E. Church will give the eulogy. Burial will be in Glen Forest Cemetery. Final tributes are a service of Porter-Qualls Funeral Homes.

Wesley G. Miller
Rev. Wesley G. Miller died on Friday, March 21. He was 87.
He was born on Sept. 30, 1915, in Hennepin County, Minn.
He attended Westmar College in Minnesota and the Evangelical Theological Seminary in Naperville, Ill., where he graduated and was ordained in 1939.
Married the same year to Ruth Taylor Miller, the couple moved to Minnesota, where they started their family and Rev. Miller served three pastorates under the Evangelical United Brethren Church. In 1951, the Millers changed to the Presbyterian denomination and served two more churches in Minnesota, including the House of Hope Church in St. Paul. In 1958, the Millers were called to start a new church in Florissant, Mo.
Based on his experience in starting the John Knox Church in Florissant, Rev. Miller was called to be associate director of the St. Louis Presbytery, where he worked in the areas of new church development, business affairs, stewardship and evangelism. He helped to organize five new Korean churches in Chicago. Rev. Miller held similar positions in the Philadelphia and Chicago Presbyteries until his retirement in 1981, when he and Ruth moved to Yellow Springs.
While here, Rev. Miller was chairman of the board of the Yellow Springs Senior Citizens, Inc. and a member of the Lions Club. He also kept busy with the First Presbyterian Church and by working in the re-upholstery business.
In 1988, the Millers became residents of Mount Pleasant Retirement Village in Monroe. Rev. Miller was active in the Mount Pleasant Presbytrian Church and served as a member of the board of Mount Pleasant Village and vice president of the Resident Association. He organized and developed the Elder School Program, headed various programs for sports activities and participated in planning the Wellness Building at Mount Pleasant.
An avid woodcarver, he was named a statewide winner in the annual art competition sponsored by the Ohio Presbyterian Retirement Services (OPRS). His work was featured in the 2002 OPRS Resident Art Calendar.
Rev. Miller also was the stimulus for developing the “Means of Grace” theme for the memorial stained glass windows in Mount Pleasant Presbyterian Church and, in 2002, he published a book, Celebrating Our First 200 Years: History of Mount Pleasant Presbyterian Church, in honor of the church’s bicentennial celebration.
Wes Miller was a visionary thinker who always sought practical means for achieving goals based on his dedication to serving others. He will be greatly missed by all those who knew and loved him.
He was preceded in death by his parents, his wife, his brother, Harold Miller, and his sister, Harriet Miller.
He is survived by his son and daughter-in-law, Donald and Sharron Miller of Hazelwood, Mo.; his daughter and son-in-law, Margaret “Peg” and Jim Kane of Yellow Springs; and his granddaughter and her spouse, Penelope and Rafael Heinigk of Denver.
Memorial gifts may be directed to the Mount Pleasant Life Care Fund, the Memorial Fund of Monroe Presbyterian Church or to Hospice of Dayton.

Pearl Gottschall Moore
Pearl Gottschall Moore of Kettering died Monday, March 24, at Hospice of Dayton. She was 83.
She was born in Budapest, Hungary, and came to the United States when she was 22 months old.
She was retired from the Northrup Corporation as an executive secretary. She was a member of the Fairmont Presbyterian Church and the League of Women Voters and a volunteer teacher for an English as a Second Language Program.
She volunteered for nine years at Hospice of Dayton, where she met her second husband, Barney Moore of Yellow Springs. They were married in 2000.
She loved life and acquaintances became lifelong friends.
She is preceded in death by her husband of 50 years, Lionelle Gottschall; sister Jo-An Beneze; brothers, Arthur Sarkozy and Robert Sarkozy; and son-in-law Robert Sullivan.
She is survived by her husband, Barney Moore; son and daughter-in-law, Lee and Tammy Gottschall of Lilburn, Ga.; daughters and sons-in-law, Sue Sullivan of Columbus, Ind., Lynn and John Zeisler of Columbus, Ohio, Christine and Jerry Michaels of Miamisburg; sister Margaret Van Effen of Schaumburg, Ill.; grandchildren, Keelan, Molly, Stephanie, Cheryl, Aaron, Shannon, Britten, Leigha, Jacob, Andrew, Julie, Bradley and Colton; stepsons and their wives, Chris and Christine Moore, Kiean and Sally Moore, Nicholas and Nadine Moore; stepgrandchildren, Sam, Jack, Nathan, Brendon; niece, Karen; nephews Hank, Don, Dave, Laszlo and Bob; and numerous friends.
Funeral services will be held Saturday, March 29, at 10 a.m., at the Tobias Funeral Home, Far Hills Chapel, 5471 Far Hills Avenue. Interment will be at Miami Valley Memory Gardens. Friends may call at the funeral home from 5 to 8 p.m. tomorrow (Friday).
Memorial contributions may be made to Hospice of Dayton.

Buckley S. Rude
Dr. Buckley S. Rude died Saturday, March 15, in Santa Fe, N.M., where he lived for 27 years following his retirement. He was 95.
He was born on April 30, 1907, in Enid, Okla.
This scholar, minister and musician was a gentleman with a broad smile, a friend to people of all races and conditions, whether community leaders or convicts.
Dr. Rude received his Ph.D. from Edinburgh University in Scotland in 1936 after studying theology at Phillips University, McCormick Seminary and Princeton Seminary in the United States. After returning to the United States, he spent the next 39 years ministering to diverse congregations in Oklahoma, California, Arkansas and Ohio.
It was at a summer church retreat in the mountains of southern New Mexico in 1941 that he met Erma Murray. They married in 1942, the same year he received an invitation to teach at the College of the Ozarks in Clarksville, Ariz. While in Clarksville, the Rudes adopted a 7-year-old boy and his 6-year-old sister.
Dr. Rude was pastor of the First Presbyterian Church of Yellow Springs from 1950 to 1966. He was instrumental in helping diversify the church’s membership. “We found that the church was enriched by having a racial mix,” Dr. Rude wrote.
“He was a community person who worked hard for diversification, because that’s what he believed in,” Geneva Brisbane said.
During his time in Yellow Springs, the church built its education unit, sparked by what he called a “thriving youth group.” With the help of a college student, the group, the Presby-teens, developed a Motion Choir, a kind of religious dance. Dr. Rude and the late Charlotte Drake led 18 members of the group on a work camp at a Navaho mission in Chinle, Ariz.
The Rudes retired to Santa Fe in 1975, where they were active in local Presbyterian churches. In the ’80s Buckley became involved in an interfaith prison ministry. He led study groups and played his fiddle at Sunday evening services at the state penitentiary for about 15 years.
Erma Rude died in 1992. Dr. Rude was also preceded in death by his brother, John Rude.
He is survived by his daughter, Jane L. Orr, and her husband, Wendell, of St. Anthony, Idaho; son, Jack S. Rude of Rawlins, Wyo.; sisters, Evelyn Winter and Gladys White of Costa Mesa, Calif.; four grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.

Memorial Services
Lila Templin
A memorial service for Lila Templin will be held on Saturday, April 5, 2 p.m., at Rockford Chapel. She died Dec. 5, 2002.
Members of Ms. Templin’s extended family will be present and hope that all who knew her while she lived in Yellow Springs, from 1946 to 1987, will attend.