Irene Ferguson

Irene M. Huffman Ferguson, 99, formerly of Lawrenceville, Illinois, died on Thursday, June 12, 2014, in Phoenix, Arizona, at the home of her daughter, Ruth Ferguson. Irene was born July 7, 1914, in Danville, Illinois, to George Franklin Huffman and Viola Wheeler Huffman. She grew up in Bismarck, Illinois, and graduated from Henning High School. It was her lifelong dream to be a missionary, so she began attending Cincinnati Bible Institute in 1932 after receiving a scholarship. Due to a family emergency, she was forced to drop out and return home to help her mother with her siblings. She then moved to Indianapolis and Chicago and worked as a governess and waitress to earn money for the family during the depression. A friend of the family helped Irene realize her dream of going to college by arranging a tuition loan. She enrolled in Eastern Illinois State Teachers College in Charleston in the mid-‘30's, where she met and dated her future husband, Edward Ferguson, who was also attending college there. They both graduated from Eastern with teacher degrees before marrying September 11, 1938. Irene and Ed settled in Lawrenceville, where Irene taught at Brookside, Arlington and Lincoln Elementary schools, as well as home-bound children. She was a lifelong member of the Church of Christ and was very active in the church. She loved to teach pie-making classes and taught them to women in Arizona, Illinois and North Carolina. It was one of her missions in life to teach proper pie baking techniques. Irene, who loved to travel, traveled constantly after her husband's death. When she was 89, Irene climbed to the top of a mountain in North Carolina. At 90, she embarked on a dream cruise to Guatemala and went on all the shore excursions. She went on many trips in the United States and Canada with her daughters. Irene was preceded in death by her dear husband, Edward, to whom she was married for 60 years, her parents, her brothers, George & Danny, and her sister, Isabelle. She is survived by her children: Tom & Pat Ferguson of Bloomington, Indiana, Susan & Bob Lockhart, Palestine, Illinois, Ruth Ferguson of Phoenix, Arizona, and Jane Ferguson and her companion, Mary Kay White, Brevard, North Carolina. She is also survived by five grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren. Funeral services will be Friday at 12:00 Noon at Emmons-Macey & Steffey Funeral Home in Lawrenceville. Visitation will be Friday from 10:00 AM to 12:00 Noon at the funeral home. Burial will be in Memorial Park Cemetery in Vincennes, IN. Memorials may be made to the Palestine Public Library, 201 South Washington Street, Palestine, Illinois 62451. var item = document.getElementById("tukios_iframe"); // Now calculate our height. if (item){ //Looks like we have tukios_iframe. Lets do stuff var currentWidth = item.clientWidth; var proposedHeight = (currentWidth + 80) * 9/16; item.height=proposedHeight; } PDF Printable Version