FRONTENAC, KS: Ethel June Wiley, 100, formerly of Frontenac, KS passed away Thursday, February 9, 2017 at Liberty Hospital, Liberty, MO.
She was born June 23, 1916 in Eagleville, MO the daughter of James C. and Harriett Elizabeth (Blake) McWhinney.
Before Ethel was born, a sister, Velma, died at age 10. Ethel’s love of animals began on the family farm where she grew up with her four siblings: Blanche, Virgil, Vernon, and “Tommy” Cleone, a younger brother who died at the age of four. The family regularly attended the Eagleville Methodist Church where she was baptized at the age of eight.
Ethel graduated from Eagleville High School in 1934. While working in a Council Bluffs, Iowa restaurant, she met Raymond Bietry. They were married at the Eagleville Methodist Church on September 18, 1938. Ray’s family business was building greenhouses which took the couple to nine different states the first years of their marriage.
They moved to Kansas City in 1942 where both worked for Pratt-Whitney making airplane engine parts. After WWII ended, they settled in Santa Barbara, California, where Ray continued to do greenhouse work and Ethel found work as a doctor’s office helper. While working with Dr. Whitney, she attended nursing school. She worked 20 years as his nurse assistant.
Ray passed away in 1965. Ethel married Clyde Wiley February 6, 1977 in California. They moved to Frontenac, Kansas, his hometown. She became a member of the First Christian (Disciples of Christ) Church in Pittsburg where she served as an elder and made many friends. Clyde died in 2002. She continued to live alone in Frontenac until late 2016 when she moved to a Kearney, Missouri nursing home.
“Aunt June” as some nieces called her did not have children of her own, but she was a very special aunt to all her nieces and nephews. While living away from Missouri, she regularly corresponded with family members, keeping in touch through her long interesting letters.
She was preceded in death by her parents; all of her siblings; two husbands: Raymond Bietry and Clyde Wiley; a nephew, Leroy Trammell; and two nieces, Maxine Swigart and Dorothy Davis.
She is survived by four of her nieces: Jean Huitt, Eagleville; Jane (Larry) Smith, Bethany; Peggy Rinehart, Fort Worth, Texas; Beth (Don) Shepard, Plattsburg, Missouri; and one niece-in-law: Maxine Trammell, Clearview Nursing Home, Mt. Ayr, Iowa; and many grand-nieces and nephews.
Graveside services and burial will be 11:00 a.m. Monday, February 13, at Masonic Cemetery, Eagleville, MO. The family will receive friends from 10:00 to 11:00 a.m. Monday at Roberson Funeral Home, Eagleville, MO. Memorials may be made to the Masonic Cemetery in care of Roberson Funeral Home, P.O. Box 46, Eagleville, MO 64442. Online condolences may be left at www.robersonfuneralhome.com.