Irene Bass
The funeral for former Emporian Irene Lela Bass of Albuquerque, N.M., will be at 10 a.m. Friday in the Roberts-Blue-Barnett Funeral Home Chapel. The grandson of Mrs. Bass, the Rev. Marlon McDuffie of Irving, Texas, will conduct the service. Burial will be in Memorial Lawn Cemetery. The family suggests that, instead of flowers, memorial contributions be made to the First Church of the Nazarene or a charity of the donor’s choice.
Mrs. Bass died Saturday, Jan. 13, 2007, at Albuquerque. She was 96.
She was a homemaker and started the hot lunch programs at Whittier and Sacred Heart schools. She also was a Tupperware manager.
The daughter of William and Mary Busch Viles, she was born May 4, 1910, at Walton. She married Clem Bass on June 16, 1928, at Cottonwood Falls. He died May 12, 1984.
Mrs. Bass was a 65-year member of the First Church of the Nazarene. She was a member of the Whittier home demonstration unit, Business-Professional Women’s Association and the Emporia Senior Center.
She is survived by three daughters, Lucille Hanna of Buellton, Calif., Loyette McDuffie of Albuquerque, N.M., and Pat Winters of Tuscaloosa, Okla.; one sister, Virginia Suddock of Emporia; seven grandchildren; and 13 great-grandchildren. One brother, Scott “Bud” Viles; and three sisters, Doris Viles, Eva Finney and Frances Miller, died earlier.
A daughter of Irene Lela Bass, Pat Winters, lives in Tuscaloosa, Ala. Incorrect information was provided for the obituary published Tuesday in The Gazette.