| Notes |
- Find-a-Grave Obituary
Alice Louise Smith Bass
Alice Louise Smith Bass grew up in Jennings Ordinary, Nottoway, VA, where she had a loving and nurturing home surrounded by caring relatives and friends. She was baptized early and began, as a child, her lifelong membership with the First Nottoway Baptist Church, Creew, VA and was taught early by her parents to work in the Church, young Alice participated eagerly in the Sunday School and the Church choir. She was educated in the public schools of the county, graduating from the Nottoway Training and High School, Blackstone, VA. With a joy for learning, she entered Saint Paul's College, Lawrenceville, VA where she graduated in 1939 with an Associates Degree and continued her education at Virginia State College, Petersburg, VA where she received her B.S. Degree in Elementary Education and later her accreditation as a Librarian.
Alice Bass began her teaching career in the then segregated school system of Nottoway County, VA and worked as an elementary school teacher and librarian for forty-three years. During that time she devoted herself to young people in and out of her classes and taught the values of education, particularly reading, to hundreds of children throughout the county. Generous and loving, disciplined and proper, she encouraged each child to pursue their talents and ambitions. In 1945, she married William H. Bass, Jr. of Crewe, VA. She held several positions in the First Nottoway Baptist Church. She served as Church Clerk for twenty-five years. For many years she was President of the Senior Choir and President of the Ladies Missionary Society, noting even at the age of 85, that she had to prepare "Christmas baskets for the elderly". She also served as head of the Church and Youth Programs Committees. She served as Treasurer of the Church and a member of the committees to appoint a Pastor. She initiated and directed the Vacation Bible School Program and was a Deaconess in the Church. She was a Sunday School Teacher and was responsible for many Church plays, programs and pageants. She was a Past Worthy Matron of the Order of Eastern Star.
Throughout her life, "Mrs. Bass" was, above all else, an educator. "Teaching the children" was not only her occupation, but also her hobby, her love, her life long passion. She "pushed" learning to both the willing and the unwilling, not only at school but also in the church; when she started the vacation bible school at First Nottoway, she recruited every kid she could find, not just the ones in her church but also those in every black church in the county and quite a few who didn't go to church. As a teacher she taught many hundreds of black kids to read; as a librarian she encouraged many hundreds of kids, black and white, to keep on reading, she seized every opportunity to educate and she inherently knew before the term became popular that "reading is fundamental". Many of those mourning her today would not have achieved the status they now hold had it not been for her gentle but firm and fair encouragement early on. She called all of her students "my children". Even if she saw you on the street and you were 50 or 60 years old, she'd still call you one of her children. She loved her children and they love her back.
Funeral services were held at 1:00 PM, Thursday, August 6, 2009 at the First Nottoway Baptist Church, Crewe, VA. Interment in the Downs Family Cemetery, Crewe, VA.
Funeral arrangements entrusted to the staff of the W. E. Hawkes Funeral Home, 504 East Street, Blackstone, VA. www.hawkesfh.com.
|
Bassett Family Association Database
1918 - 2009 (90 years)