Edith J. Kresse

Edith J. Kresse, age 90, formerly of Grove, passed on January 25, 2020 in St Joseph, MO. Funeral services will be at 2:00 P.M. on Friday, January 31, 2020 at Nichols-Stephens Funeral Service with burial to follow at the Buzzard Cemetery. Edith Josephine Sims Kresse was born on 6 March 1929 in Helen, White County, Georgia. Her family moved to Sylva, Jackson County, North Carolina, when she was very young. She attended the Sylva Central Grade School for the first through the seventh grade. They did not have kindergarten. She attended Sylva Central High School from the eighth to the twelfth grade. In 1942 she was baptized in the Tuckasegee River in Sylva. Their class was the first class to have the twelfth grade. There were 48 in her class and she was voted the Sweetest Girl. She also participated in Journalism and Glee Club. She graduated in May 1947. Then she moved to Atlanta, Georgia with her cousin Opal Fain and worked at Sears and enrolled at the Business College and took night classes. In 1949, she moved back to Sylva, North Carolina. She was visiting her sister, Ruthalene, and her husband, Bill McClung at Camp Chaffee, Arkansas in the summer of 1949. That is where she met Tiffin J. Kresse. Tiffin worked at the NCO Club. Ruthalene, called Rusty back then, called Tiffin “Criss”. They started dating and she went to Kidder, Missouri, with T.J. to meet his parents. After her visit she went to Kansas City, Missouri to live with T.J.’s sister, Norma, and her husband, Al Fagan. Norma and Al owned a tamale business. There she worked in the credit office of Montgomery Wards. T.J. proposed to Edith in Kansas City and they were engaged for 1 ½ years. T.J. and Edith were married on July 3, 1951 by the Justice of the Peace in Bentonville, Arkansas with their friends, Fern and David Moss, as their witnesses. Norma and Al Fagan also went. In November 1951 T.J. received his orders to go to Korea for the Korean War. So Edith decided to move to Lovell, Wyoming to live by her brother-in-law, Robert and his wife Mary. T.J. was in Korea until December 2, 1953. When he returned, they had to stay in Colorado Springs, Colorado for 30 days until they received their orders. They were then stationed at Fort Lincoln in Bismarck, North Dakota. The day they moved there it was –37 degrees. While at Bismarck, they had a daughter named Debra Lynn. They lived there for six months and then were transferred to Chicago, Illinois. From March 6, 1956 until July of 1960 they lived in Park Forest, a suburb of Chicago. In July of 1960, they left for the east coast and went to Fort Dix, New Jersey. From there they left on a ship across the Atlantic Ocean for Heidelburg, Germany. It took ten days to cross the Atlantic and Edith was very sick throughout the whole trip. Seasickness is not a good thing. Once she got on solid ground, she felt a lot better. When they arrived in Heidelburg, Germany, it rained for fourteen days straight. They lived in government housing on Holbein Ring in Patrick Henry Village. T.J. was with the 481st Military Police Detachment. While in Germany, T.J. and Edith participated in bowling and golf. One night, the M.P.’s brought T.J. a sack and said they found something. In it, was a parakeet. They kept him and named him Pete. Edith soon would become very fond of Pete and he would also sit on T.J.’s head and peck at his glasses. In April 1963, they had a son named Robert Marvin. In August, 1963, they left Germany for the United States on a military plane. They had to make an emergency landing in Scotland due to oil leaking out on the wing. It took 19 hours to fly to the U.S.. The Army sent them to St. Louis, Missouri until January, 1966. There T.J. was the Commanding Officer of the 70th Military Police Detachment in the Criminal Investigation Office. He was also the Polygraph Examiner. He was in Vietnam from 16 May 1966 until December 1966. He was in Vung Tau and Phom Phen. At that time he was having weakness in his legs. They transferred him to Yokohama, Japan for testing. Through the wars, Edith maintained the family and home. Making sure that Deb and Bob were where they needed to go for school, activities and church. Even taking care of dogs that the kids would bring home. T.J. came back to Raytown, Missouri to be with his family and worked downtown Kansas City in the government offices in the Criminal Investigation Department as the Officer in Charge. All the while, he was still going to the doctor and having tests run. In June, 1968, they moved across town to 53rd Street, Kansas City, Missouri and T.J. went to Fitzsimmons General Hospital in Denver, Colorado to have more testing. Edith and the kids stayed in Kansas City. The weakness had now gone to his arms; and his legs continued to get worse. They concluded that he had Polymyositis, a deterioration of the muscles and joints. At this time, there were only three known cases of this in the world and the doctors really did not know how to treat it. He was there until December of 1968. He came back to Kansas City and resumed working until his disease became worse. By this time he used a wheel chair but could walk with the aid of crutches. During the summers, the Kresse family would go to Grand Lake, Grove, Oklahoma. Due to the worsening of T.J.’s condition, they moved to Grove, Oklahoma to be close to Grand Lake in August, 1972. They enjoyed looking at the lake. They moved into a trailer house out on Hickory Point. During T.J.’s sickness, Edith never complained but took great care of him. On 1 March 1973 T.J. retired after thirty years of service to his country. In June, 1975 they moved across the lake to a beautiful home that was remodeled for wheel chair use that was right on the lake. 19 March 19, 1978 T.J. passed away. Edith stayed at the home until December, 1983. She sold that house and moved to Orchard Grove, in Grove, Oklahoma. It was off of the lake and a house that she had built for her. She worked in the jewelry department at Walmart for seven years. She then retired and remained in Grove, Oklahoma until 29 June 1999, when she moved to Muscle Shoals, Alabama to be close to Bob. Driving wherever she needed to go, her one thing she loved to do was to go to McDonald’s and get a Big Mac. In August, 2009 she moved to Everest, KS to be with Deb and her family and then in May 2010, she moved to Prairie Rose in Tulsa, OK to be near Bob. There she gave up her driving and participated in all the activities of Prairie Rose. Her favorite was bingo. She also enjoyed the entertainment that was provided and sat with her good friend, Ed. In May of 2018 Bob and his family moved to Nashville, TN so she decided to move up by Deb and to St. Joseph, MO. She moved to an independent senior living that was owned by the same company that owned the one in Tulsa. She loved Country Squire and had a boyfriend named Harry. She lived there until she got sick in December 2019 and was in and out of the hospital. On Friday, January 24th, she moved to Carriage Square, a long term care facility and passed away the next morning. She was a happy, never met a stranger person. Always carrying on a conversation with anyone who would talk with her. She never lost her southern accent and never looked a day over 80. She will be truly missed by friends and family. She loved her grandkids, Addie, Jackson, Michael and Nick and her great grandkids, Tiffin and Beckett. She was also wanting to know how they were and what they were doing at all times. She enjoyed the Kansas City Royals and the Kansas City Chiefs and always wore one of her many Royals shirt on Fridays during baseball season and her Chiefs shirts on Red Fridays. She was very excited that the Chiefs were going to the Super Bowl. She will be missed. She was preceded in death by her husband, T.J., her parents, one brother and two sisters. She is survived by daughter, Deb Lanter (Larry) of Everest, KS, grandson, Michael Lanter (Bailey) of Everest, KS, great grandchildren Tiffin Lanter and Beckett Lanter of Everest, KS, grandson Nicholas Lanter (Stacey) of Castle Rock, CO, son Bob Kresse (Laura) of Nashville, TN, grandchildren Addie Kresse and Jackson Kresse of Nashville, TN, sister Helen Clark of Sylva, NC, a brother Terry Sims of Hendersonville, NC, and a special niece Sherry Setliff of Hendersonville, NC.

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Edith J. Kresse

March 6, 1929 - January 25, 2020