Fentie Welsh

PUNTA GORDA, Fla. – Fentie R. Welsh, 95, of Punta Gorda, Fla., formerly of Dixon, died Monday, Nov. 9, 2009, at Tidewell Port Charlotte Hospice House, Port Charlotte, Fla.

Fentie was born Feb. 25, 1914, in Walnut, the daughter of Burton and Fentie (Smith) Reed. The family moved to Montana, where they lived in a log cabin for a few years. They returned to Illinois, where Fentie lived until moving to Punta Gorda shortly after Hurricane Charley visited that area.

During the Depression, she worked at the Stevens Hotel in Chicago (now the Conrad Hilton), before returning to Dixon to work at the Rainbow Inn and later at USF & G Insurance Co., prior to her retirement in 1979. Fentie had two wonderful marriages to Raymond “Johnnie” L. Johnson and to Chauncey W. Welsh, both of whom preceded her in death.

Her life was a collage of voluntarism, Brownies, Girl Scouts, Cub Scouts, Leydig Center, food pantry, The Salvation Army, Meals on Wheels, hospice board, bloodmobile, and at the Ronald Reagan Boyhood Home. As a result of the latter, Fentie went to Reagan’s inauguration and the opening of the presidential library in California. She also was a guest at the White House during the Reagan administration. She was proud of her transition from a log cabin to the White House!

Fentie belonged to Daughters of the American Revolution, Lee County Genealogy Society, Lee County Council on Aging, and Reagan Home Auxiliary. She was a member of First Baptist Church, Dixon, since 1940, and was an associate member of Burnt Store Presbyterian Church in Punta Gorda. In between her jobs, her memberships, and her volunteering, she managed to do extensive traveling with family and friends.

She is survived by her children, Faun (Jack) Hill of Punta Gorda, Fla. and Ronald R. (Beverly) Johnson of Monroe, Wis.; two stepdaughters, Maxine (Julian “Gus”) Voss of Naperville and Delores “De” (Robert “Ed”) Moore of Leaf River; one stepdaughter-in-law, Donna Welsh of Moline; eight grandchildren; and several stepgrandchildren, great-grandchildren, and nieces and nephews.

She also was preceded in death by her parents; three sisters; four brothers; and one stepson, Douglas Welsh.