Virginia Bee

Virginia M. (Autry) Bee, 85, passed away early on the morning of June 22, 2009 after a lengthy series of illnesses. Born in 1924 in Van Buren County, AR to the late James Edgar and Lulu Naoma (Tester) Autry, Virginia attended clothing design school in Arkansas until 1943, when she moved to Illinois to work at a St. Louis wartime facility, helping to manufacture tanks for the Allied war effort. While in Illinois, she met and married Army CPL (later SGT) Bernard Bee Jr. At the end of WWII, she returned with her husband to his home in Indianapolis, where they began their family. Two daughters, Connie and Peggy, were born in Indianapolis. During this period, Mrs. Bee sold real estate for a time and then began a long career with Kroger, which lasted over more than forty years. She was a member of the DAR, Kappa Kappa Sigma in Mooresville, and the Gideon Auxiliary. During the late 1950s and early 1960s she was a volunteer in Central Indiana Girl Scouts as a troop leader and city activities coordinator. In 1961 the family moved to the Mooresville area, where Virginia joined the Mooresville Kroger as a cashier and began union stewardship duties there. She remained active in her role as employee and union advocate, completing many education courses on employment law and serving on many union panels during the 1970s and 1980s. She provided support to her daughters and community in the Mooresville-Monrovia area and was an active parent and grandparent supporting Monrovia schools and the Monrovia High School Band from the 1960s until the mid 2000s. In the early 1980s Mrs. Bee took on the additional role of care giver to her mother-in-law, Mrs. Anna Bee. During this time she also began supporting the pastoral duties of her husband as he took on the role of pastor to Whittaker Baptist Church, later becoming pastor of Oak Park Baptist Church in Indianapolis. As a full-time worker, mother, and wife she provided much of the grit and gumption that held her family together through both good and tough times. She is, and will forever be, profoundly missed by those she loved and who loved her. Survivors include her beloved husband of 64 years Bernard; sister Lorene Eoff of Oklahoma; her daughters Connie Marie (Lester Jr.) Bowling and Peggy Ann Thomas, also of Mooresville; grandchildren Michael (Bethany) Bowling of Camby, Heather (Michael) Kistler of Indianapolis, Meredith (Randall) Bee of Greencastle, Elizabeth Thomas of Indianapolis and Kaitlyn Thomas of Mooresville and Utah; and four great-grandchildren: Gabriel, Michaela, and Brynn Bowling and Kayleigh Kistler. Virginia was preceded in death by her two brothers Delmar and James Autry. Visitation will be Wednesday, June 24 from 4 to 8 pm at Jones Crossing Banquet Center next to Jones Family Mortuary in Mooresville. Services are Thursday, June 25 at 10:30 am at the same location, with interment at Mount Pleasant Cemetery in Morgan County following the services. Friends are asked to send condolences and remembrances to Jones Family Mortuary in Mooresville, which will then be distributed to the family.