Ethel B. Badgley

Ethel B. Badgley, 105, of Ottawa, passed away Thursday, November 3, 2011 at Pleasant View Luther Home. Prior to being at the nursing home, she resided on Moore Street up until October of 2010. Funeral Service for Ethel will be 10:00 a.m. Monday, November 7, 2011 at the Ottawa Funeral Home with Pastors Steve Sheridan and Dr. Ralph Deming officiating. Visitation will be one hour prior to the service at the Ottawa Funeral Home. Burial will be in Ottawa Avenue Cemetery. Ethel was born March 1, 1906 in Belleville, Illinois to George H. and Mary B. (Gibson) Maul. She married Claude A. Badgley on November 30, 1935. She was a homemaker most of her life. As a young woman she worked in the dietary department at City Hospital in St. Louis, Missouri. She also worked at J.C. Penney, Inc. in Belleville, Illinois for 8 years. She was an active member of the Westview Baptist Church in Belleville, Illinois. At the request of Westview, 11 individuals led by Claude and Ethel Badgley started Eastview Baptist Church until moving to Ottawa in the early 1970's to live near their daughter and her family. After moving to Ottawa, they joined Grace Baptist Church. For a number of years, they were the church treasurers at Grace. Ethel was an accomplished seamstress making all of her own clothes since the age of 16 when she got her first sewing machine. She also made clothing for her family and many items for decorating her home and the homes of her daughter, granddaughter and grandson. She crocheted up until the fall of 2010 and enjoyed giving away the things she made to family, friends and acquaintances. She once made 30 white baby dresses for the St. Mary's Hospital Haiti Mission Team to take to Haiti to be worn by newborns for their baptism. She is survived by one daughter, Judy (Bill) Ferguson of Ottawa; grandchildren Kelley (Dave) Moran of Hazelhurst, Wisconsin and Christopher (Alansa) Ferguson of Cary, Illinois; two great-grandchildren, Drew and Kate Ferguson of Cary, Illinois; brother-in-law, Robert S. Meyer of Houston, Texas; and one nephew and six nieces from Illinois, Nebraska, Texas, Florida and England. She is also survived by her church family at Grace Baptist Church and special friends Mike and Judy Bannister, and Helen Holtzman. Ethel is preceded in death by her husband, Claude A. Badgley in 1984; one son at birth, Russell Lee Badgley, her parents and her step-father, Henry Briedenbach; one sister, Gloria (Briedenbach) Meyer; one brother, Henry Briedenbach, Jr.; and many other family members. Memorials may be directed to the family to be used later to honor her memory. Pallbearers will be Bill Ferguson, Christopher Ferguson, Drew Ferguson, Dave Moran, Mike Bannister and Bob Marten.