Jean Bush-Laughlin

Mrs. Bush-Laughlin died Monday, June 7, 2004, at Village Manor Nursing Home in Ottawa.

She was born May 12, 1922, in Greenwood, the daughter of Ira E. and Nellie McClellan Reed. She grew up north of Pomona and graduated from Pomona High School in 1940 as valedictorian. She lived in rural Melvern from 1942 to 1986, moved to Americus in 1986, to Emporia in 2002 and to Ottawa in 2004.

Mrs. Bush-Laughlin was a lifelong homemaker. She was a member of Americus Methodist Church and United Methodist Women, Home Demonstration Unit in Melvern, Circle of Friends in Emporia and the Maxon Thimble Club in the Melvern area.

She married Charles J. Bush Jr. on June 9, 1940, in rural Pomona. He died Feb. 23, 1978. She married Donald Laughlin on Aug. 8, 1986, in Melvern. He died Sept. 19, 2002.

A daughter, Eileen Meidinger, also died earlier.

Survivors include two sons, Douglas Bush, Melvern, and David Bush, Austin, Texas; two daughters, Shirley Morrison, Greenville, N.C., and Barbara Vaught, Conway, S.C.; a sister, Dorothy Hay, Paola; two brothers, Ray Reed and Roy Reed, both of Pomona; 11 grandchildren; and three great-grandchildren.

Friends may call from 8:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. today and from 8:30 a.m. to service time Friday at the mortuary, where family will receive them from 7 p.m. to 8 p.m. today.

The family suggests memorials to the American Cancer Society, sent in care of the mortuary, 235 S. Hickory, Ottawa 66067.