Julia Berniece Matheny, 82, of Astoria, formerly of Marietta, died at 5:39 a.m. Tuesday, July 20, 1996, at McDonough District Hospital in Macomb.
Julia Berniece Catron was born April 23, 1914, the fourth child of Bruce Hurd and Idress Elva (McKinley) Catron. She had two brothers, Lyman Norval (1908) and Ralph Lacey (1910) and two sisters, Gladys Marie (stillborn 1907) and Hazel Virginia (1918). In 1919 both Hazel and Ralph died, Hazel at age eight months in February and Ralph at age nine in September.
Berniece grew up on the homestead northeast of Ipava in a community of farm families who shared work, news, and entertainment, such as sewing circles, dances, ice cream making and evenings of games or cards. Until about age 13, Berniece had a maternal grandmother (for whom she was named) living nearby and a paternal grandfather (Civil War veteran) who sometimes wrote and occasionally visited.
Although she had dolls, she preferred being outdoors playing with the chickens or other farm animals. Later she joined 4-H and showed cattle and especially enjoyed horseback riding.
She attended the Lacey School (named for her great-grandfather) about a mile from her home, later graduating from Ipava High School and Western Illinois State Teachers College (now Western Illinois University). Her first teaching job was at the Lease School near Bernadotte. She roomed with community families and rode her horse to get to school. She taught business at the Astoria High School in the 1938-1939 school year.
On May 23, 1939, she married William Perry “Bill” Matheny in Lewistown. After a few months living and working on a farm near Donnelson, Iowa, she and Bill returned to become tenants on her father’s farm and, with time, parents of three children, Ruth (1940), Ralph (1946), and Ila (1948). In February of 1951, they moved to a farm of their own near Marietta. In 1961 they bought a second small farm nearer Marietta where she lived until her health was failing in 1991 and she went to live at Astoria with Ralph, Marianne, Erica and Kim.
At Ipava, Berniece was a member of the Presbyterian Church and at Marietta she joined the Point Pleasant United Methodist Church and was active in Busy Bees. She valued education. Like her, all three of her children graduated from Western Illinois University with teaching degrees. At home she enjoyed raising livestock and gardening. In the community she collected for the cancer fund, baked pies for the Marietta Fish Fry, served on township election boards and an advisory board for the school district.
Her husband Bill died July 12, 1979.
She is survived by three children, Ralph and Marianne Matheny of Astoria, Ila and Ivan Persefield of Brimfield and Ruth and Al Richert of Macomb; eight grandchildren, Howard Sizek, Gloria (Sizek) Stephenson, Diana (Matheny) Vance, David Matheny, Ethel Mae Persefield, Chris A. Persefield, Erica and Kim Baars; and eight great-grandchildren, Jessica Persefield, Amy Persefield, Jeremy Stephenson, Julia, Philip, and Herbert Sizek, Michael and Jessica Vance.
Funeral services will be held Friday at 10:30 a.m. at Shawgo Memorial Home in Astoria with Rev. Mary Jo Williams officiating. Burial will be in Ipava Cemetery. Visitation will be from 6 to 8 p.m. Thursday at the funeral home.
Memorials may be made to WIU Foundation or the Astoria Rescue Squad.
Current Obituaries in the Astoria South Fulton Argus