Clipping hand dated 3/24/52 Mrs. Bessie Shirk Is To Be Buried This Afternoon Well-Known Resident, 76, Dies Monday Funeral rites will be held at 2 p.m. today in the Fox and Macer mortuary for Mrs. Bessie L. Shirk, 76, well-known resident, who died Monday morning at her home, 1225 Webster Ave, after an illness of several years. Burial will be in South Mound cemetery. Mrs. Shirk, widow of Charles R. Shirk, was secretary of the Henry County Historical Society, a member of the First Christian Church and the War Mothers. She was a life long resident of the county and her hobby was studying the history of the community and its peoples. She was a member of a pioneed Henry County family, a daughter of Allen and Mahala Spell. Survivors include three daughters, Mrs. Wilbur Lee, Mrs. Mabel Barrickman and MRs. Harry R. Gauker, all of New Castle; three sons, J. Bernard Shirk, New Castle; John Shirk of Hagerstown and Charles R. Shirk, Warren, Mich; three sisters, Mrs. Jessie Adams of Albuquerque, N.M.; Mrs. Mamie Breathett of New Castle and Mrs. Walter J. Finnegan, Logansport, and one brother, John M. Spell of New York City.