Annabel “Ann” Clark was born March 24, 1937, to Thomas Lee and Clara (Bradley) Andrews Clark at the family farm in the Shiloh community near Alton, Oregon County, Missouri. She passed away on April 25, 2021, at Center Point Hospital in Independence, Missouri.
She went to St. Louis, Missouri at an early age to live and find employment. In April 1955 she met Robert Eugene Straughn of Bonne Terre, Missouri while he was visiting family members in St. Louis. He was on leave from the U.S. Army being stationed at Fort Ord, California. On April 28, 1956, Robert and Ann were married in the Rectory of St. Joseph’s Catholic Church in Bonne Terre, Missouri, officiated by Rev. Joseph Richter, and to this union, two sons were born, Robert Michael and Thomas Lynn. They were living in Doniphan, Missouri when Mr. Straughn passed away October 14, 1980, in Doctors Regional Hospital in Poplar Bluff, Missouri after a battle with cancer.
Ann received her first eight years of education at the Shiloh School and earned her GED in June 1968. She attended the Shiloh Freewill Baptist Church with the family until she went to St. Louis. On June 23, 1956, she was baptized into the Catholic faith at St. Joseph Catholic Church in Bonne Terre, Missouri. Ann was a domestic engineer, she had to move many times in her lifetime, each house she and her family moved into, she made it home. She learned to sew, crochet, and other crafts at an early age and enjoyed country cooking until she discovered she had diabetes. She had a passion for flowers and always looked forward to Spring when she could enjoy the outdoors.
On October 5, 1985, Ann married James Edward Busby, Jr. of Memphis, Tennessee at Big Springs National Park in Van Buren, Missouri officiated by Judge David J. Hedspeth, Associate Circuit Judge of Carter County, Missouri.
They lived in Knob Noster, Missouri for four years, then Higginsville, Missouri for six years before retiring to Mountain View, Missouri in 1996. They enjoyed researching family history together, spent many hours in the Truman Library in Independence, Missouri in the genealogy department. After moving to Mountain View close to her home town they searched many family cemeteries looking for kin folk’s graves. Most of all they loved meeting and visiting with the older generation that were still living.
Ann is survived by her husband, James; one son, Robert Michael Straughn Sr. and wife, Rose; three grandchildren, Rachel Marie Navarro and husband, Sean, Robert Michael Straughn Jr. and Jessica Dawn Durbin; two great-granddaughters, Justina Colette Navarro and Lucia Margaret; five stepchildren, Diane Elizabeth Maxwell and husband, Rusty, Denise Marie Lynch and husband, George, John Robert Busby, Katherine Louise Whittaker and husband, Eric, and James Edward Busby III; and two sisters, Kay Stewart, and Mary Story and husband, Danny.
She is preceded in death by her late husband, Robert Straughn; her parents, Lee and Clara Clark; son, Thomas Lynn Straughn; stepson, Joseph William Busby; two brothers, Jessie Ray and Gilbert Carlos Clark; one sister, Norma Louise Clark Rudisill and husband, JD; half-brothers, Roy Andrews, Paul Andrews and wife, Francis, William “Bill” Clark, John Clark and wife, Clestyl, George Clark and wife, Violet, Ongle Clark and wife, Sarah Russell Clark; half-sisters, Mildred Andrews Howell and husband, Ted, Thelma Andrews Partain and husband, Leroy, Maxine Andrews Stevenson and husband, Duane, Ethel Clark Hummel and husband, Larry Sr., Hazel Clark Grooms and husband, Harding, and Edward Stewart.
Funeral Mass will be held at 1:00 p.m. on Wednesday, May 5, 2021, at Yarber Mortuary, Mountain View, Missouri with Father Jim Unterreiner officiating. Visitation will be Tuesday, May 4, 2021, from 6 – 8:00 p.m. also at the funeral home. Interment will be in Veterans Cemetery in Mountain View, Missouri. Memorial contributions may be made to American Diabetes Association. Condolences may be expressed at www.yarbermortuary.com.
