Bessie Emaline Bass Josey was born January 13, 1899 in Vermillion, Edgar, IL, and died August 31, 1961 in Mt. Clemens, Macomb, MI. She married Clyde Francis Josey August 18, 1920 in Harrisburg IL, son of James Josey and Martha Romack. He was born December 17, 1894 in Hillside, Muhlenburg, KY, and died January 12, 1980 in Alma, Gratiot, MI.

Notes for Bessie Emaline Bass:
"This week the Metropolitan Tabernacle suffered a great loss. We said good-bye to one of God's choicest saints. I expect if a vote were taken Bessie Josey would have been the First Lady of this church....she has left so much of herself with us that we would be blind indeed if we should say that we had lost her. She left the testimony of her faithfulness, she loved the church as she loved the One who died for the church. God's Book and God's Day and His House were sacred and precious to her. We could have filled all the seats in the funeral home last Thursday with the little girls, some of them now grown to young womanhood, who sat under her teaching in the sunday school...She was not only a disciple of Mary, she was also an adherent of Martha, she was always in the kitchen when a church supper was in preparation and she preferred to prepare and arrange the emblems of the communion without assistance. Each detail of this meaningful observance had from her the utmost loving care. This was her chosen task for many years...."

Memorial from the Bulletin of Metropolitan Baptist Tabernacle, Detroit, MI, Sept. 3, 1961.

Burial: Cadillac Memorial Gardens East, Mt. Clemens, Macomb, MI