Ravenswood, WV – A golden heart stopped beating. Beatrice Almeda Tawney, 97, of Ravenswood, West Virginia, formerly of Clay County, West Virginia passed away on March 12, 2015 at home.
She was born June 28, 1917 at Wallback, West Virginia, a daughter of the late Robert Cleveland Summers and Almeda Wilson Bonnett Summers.
Beatrice was a life-long member of the Wallback United Methodist Church and a graduate of Clay County High School with the class of 1936. She was a graduate of Glenville State College with the class of 1947 and started teaching after two years of college finishing her degree with night and summer classes. She retired from the Clay County Board of Education.
She was an assistant postmaster at Wallback for a short time and she and her late husband Clark operatee Tawney’s Exxon at Wallback for 35 years. She was a member of the West Virginia Education Association, the National Education Association, and the United Methodist Women.
After retiring, she and her husband spent 28 winters in Sanford, Florida. At the age of 90, she and Clark moved to Ravenswood to be near their only child, Bernice Jean.
Beatrice was the most positive person and determined woman and was a classy lady who loved to tell stories of her life growing up.
She was a loving wife, mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother.
Left to cherish her memory are her daughter, Bernice Jean Happney and husband, Mark, of Ravenswood; granddaughters, Kimberly Sue Murray and husband Dean of Ravenswood and Tammy Anne Oxley and husband Greg of South Charleston, West Virginia; a great-granddaughter, Kayla Anne Oxley of South Charleston; great-grandsons, Cory Murray of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Luke Murray of Ravenswood, and Nicholas Oxley of South Charleston; sisters, Miriam Summers Sizemore of Maysel, West Virginia and Janis Summers Boggess of Melbourne, Florida; and many nieces and nephews.
Preceding her in death was the love of her life, Clark Tawney; brothers, Andrew, Lionel Terry (Chuck), Vallis Crockett, Robert Clayton, Bobby Darius, and Levy Price Summers; and a sister, Opal Anna Bonnett Moore.
A graveside service was held at 1:30pm on Sunday, March 15, 2015 at the Tawney Cemetery in Newton, West Virginia with Rev. Paul Coon officiating. There was no visitation or service at the funeral home.
In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made to the Wallback United Methodist Church, P.O. Box 62, Wallback, WV 25285.
Taylor-Vandale Funeral Home in Spencer, West Virginia is in charge of the arrangements.