Tombstone Tuesday–Bernice E. and Robert L. Dudgeon

Tombstone of Bernice and Bob Dudgeon, Riverside Cemetery, Adams County, Indiana.

This is the tombstone of Bernice and Robert Dudgeon, located east of Geneva in Riverside Cemetery, Wabash Township, Adams County, Indiana, The marker is inscribed: DUDGEON, Bernice E., 1907-1994, Robert L., 1903-1992.

Obituary:
ROBERT L. DUDGEON
Robert L. Dudgeon, 88, route 2, Berne, died Friday, Mar. 27 at Lutheran Hospital in Ft. Wayne. Death was attributed to a heart ailment. He had been ill for two years.

He was born in Adams County to Truman and Pearl Jones Dudgeon on Nov. 12, 1903. He married Bernice Brewster on Jan. 11, 1927 in Blue Creek Township; she survives.

Other survivors include a son, Richard L. Dudgeon, route 2, Geneva; two sisters, Mrs. Laurel (Edith) Bowen, Willshire, Ohio, and Nora Byer, Ft. Wayne; three grandchildren; and seven great-grandchildren. Three sisters, Florine, Cecil and Bernice, preceded him in death.

Services were held Sunday at Yager-Kirchhofer Funeral Home, Berne with the Rev. Marcel Lamb officiating. Burial was in Riverside Cemetery, Geneva.

Preferred memorials are to Gideons International. [1]

Obituary:
Bernice Dudgeon,
87, of rural Berne died yesterday at her son’s home. The Adams County native was the widow of Robert L., who died in 1992. Surviving are her son, Richard L. of Geneva; sisters, Elva V. Ellenberger and Dorothy Weaver, both of Geneva; three grandchildren; and seven great- grandchildren. Services are 2 p.m. Saturday in Yager-Kirchhofer Funeral Home, Berne, where calling is 2 to 9 p.m. tomorrow and 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday. Burial will be in Riverside Cemetery, Geneva. Preferred memorials are gifts to Allen Home Health Care & Hospice or Gideons International. [2]

Bernice & Bob Dudgeon

I knew them as Bernice and Bob. We pronounced her name “Burrnuss”, sounds like furnace.Bernice was one of my grandma Miller’s sisters, the children of Philip and Peral (Reid) Brewster.  Grandma and Bernice were close and I remember Bernice coming to visit on the Miller farm often. I knew Bernice better than any of my grandma’s other siblings.

My grandma, Gertrude (Brewster) Miller with her sister Bernice.

When my grandma was first married she was homesick and Bernice and their other sister Elvie would come and stay with her. When Bernice and Bob were first married they lived on State Route 49, across from where Vernon and Donna Caffee used to live. That was about a half mile from the Miller farm, across the field.

Bernice always had a smile on her face. Both she and my grandma had a terrific sense of humor and liked to kid around and play practical jokes. I bet those two got into a lot of mischief when they were little girls.

Bob’s sister Edith (Dudgeon) Bowen was my 5th grade teacher at Willshire Elementary School.

Bernice & Bob Dudgeon, 1978.

 

Sources:
[1] Robert Dudgeon obituary, Photo Star, Willshire, Ohio, 1 April 1992, page3.

[2] Bernice Dudgeon obituary, The News-Sentinel, Fort Wayne, Indiana, 15 September 1994, page 10A, Record No. 9401090618, (http://www.obitsarchive.com : accessed 24 August 2012).

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