Bess Spiva Timmons
1901 - 1987
***
"We have each been given a bag
of tools,
A formless rock and a book of rules
And each must make, ere life has
flown,
A stumbling block or a stepping stone."
Author unknown
***
Bess Cole Spiva was born on October 12, 1901, in Galena,
Kansas to George Newton Spiva and Bessie Tamblyn Spiva. She was their
middle child and had two siblings, Hubert and George Anthony. A year
after her birth their family moved to Joplin, Missouri where they
remained. She graduated from high school and obtained a degree from
Monticello College in Godfrey, Illinois in June of 1921.
After a six month trip around the world with her family
Bess married her high school beau Leroy Kittrell Timmons on September
2, 1922. They lived in Baxter Springs, Kansas for the next five years
with a brief time in Joplin before they moved to Pittsburg, Kansas,
where they raised their three children, Bob, George, and Judy.
Her husband died in 1954, after a long illness, at
the premature age of 53. Bess never remarried, saying Leroy was
the love of her life. As before, her time was filled with a multitude
of activities and charities. Organizations she supported included
The Salvation Army, United Way, Red Cross, PEO, Girl Scouts, The
Humane Society, Alturas International, The Endowment Association
of Pittsburg State University, and the Pittsburg Municipal Library.
In addition, she was on the Mount Carmel Medical Center Community
Relations and Marketing Committee and volunteered her time at the
hospital regularly. She served as an elder at the Presbyterian Church
in Pittsburg for many years.
Sensitive to the educational and spiritual needs
of youth Bess set up the George N. Spiva and Bess Spiva Timmons Scholarship Fund's at P.S.U. and
built the Timmons Chapel on the University's campus, all of which
she actively and lovingly supervised. The all-faiths chapel was dedicated
on October 2, 1966 and has been in constant use since.
In 1967, she established the Bess Spiva Timmons Foundation
to enable her children and future generations to carry on an already
existing program of assistance in areas of education, health, medical
research, the arts, programs with minority focus, social services
and ecology. Smaller and grass roots organizations were particularly
targeted, as she stated that these could use the funds more frugally,
and truly needed and appreciated encouragement.
Her life was filled with thoughtfulness and charity,
often given anonymously. In her book "Yesterday,"
written for her family to recall their legacy, she states that
it was "a major blessing to grow up with the certain knowledge
that 'Man is the maker of himself,' people are more important
than possessions and a sense of humor is the salt of life." She
passed away on June 15, 1987 at the age of 86, leaving a legacy
that is a major blessing for her family and others for generations
to come.
Additional information:
About The Timmons Chapel
George N. Spiva - Joplin
Globe Editorial
Remembering Joe and Judy Spears
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