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- Press-Register
August 5, 2012
Jo Anne Reed Bassett
(Picture included)
Bassett - Jo Anne Reed Bassett, born a native of Mobile, Alabama on August 20, 1941 passed away on Saturday, July 14th in Asheville, North Carolina after a strong fight with lung cancer. She was 70 years old. Jo Anne was preceded in death by her youngest son Shane Dowling Bassett and survived by her two sons, William Earl (Eliza) Bassett, Jr. of Crawfordsville, Florida; and Lowell Whittier (Deborah) Bassett of Wilmington, Delaware; her brothers Winston Taylor Reed of Jacksonville, Texas and William Fielder (Ann) Reed of Mobile, Alabama; and many beloved nephews, nieces and grandchildren. Jo Anne's parents were William Mack Reed and Lula Vae Wasden, and she spoke often of her rural upbringing. Her parents had seven children: Della Louise Reed Johnston (dec), William F. Reed, Mack Harvie (Virgie) Reed (dec), Edna Lanelle Reed (dec), Winston T. Reed and Kenneth Lloyd Reed (dec). She was also extremely close to her grandfather George Fielder "Papa" Wasden and her Aunt Ola Wasden. Her ancestors had roots in Ireland and Cherokee Territory ending up in Monroe and Mobile, Alabama. In her later life she returned to an area that she considered her ancestors' home, near Cherokee, North Carolina. She attended Baker High School, Murphy High School, Barton, as well as Kilgore High School in Texas. As a teen she left the South to live for a while in Chicago staying at the Eleanor Club for Women near the University of Chicago while working for Encyclopedia Britannica. Most recently she lived in the Fines Creek/White Oak area near Waynesville, North Carolina. Jo Anne and her former spouse William Bassett, Sr. and their three sons ran the Alpine Inn in Little Switzerland, North Carolina in the 1970s. The Inn received great reviews from its guests who commented on Jo Anne's delicious cooking, her hospitality, and her two trusty Saint Bernards, BB and Moose. She returned to school in the 1980s to become an LPN and then an RN. Her profession became her passion and her patients and coworkers became her extended family. Ms. Bassett gave care to those in need at: Canon Memorial Hospital, Avery Co Health Dept, the North Carolina Prison System, and the Asheville, Virginia. For as much as she had traveled the world and sampled the finer things in life, she most enjoyed a good cigarette and a hot cup of black coffee while watching the hummingbirds and squirrels visit her bird feeders from her living room in the Smokey Mountains. She lived life on her terms and had a strong spirit, a gentle soul, and a great sense of humor. She was a loving mother, a wonderful cook, a tough poker player, an avid genealogist, a gifted gardener, and a Christian. She was a hard worker and yet generous with her time and her money. Jo Anne requested donations in lieu of flowers be made in her honor of her son Shane Bassett to St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. A graveside service will take place at 11 a.m. on Monday, August 6, 2012 at Shady Grove Cemetery in Mobile.
Arrangements are being made by Radney Funeral Home in Mobile.
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Bassett Family Association Database
1941 - 2012 (70 years)