Christine Pees

Pittsburgh Tribune-Review (PA) - 27 Sep 2006
Christine Pees' love of children and devotion to her faith have been passed on to her children and grandchildren.
Mrs. Pees' daughter, Marian Facteau, is the organist at Advent Christian Church in Massena, N.Y. Another daughter, Lois Earnest, provides child care in Ypsilanti, Mich. A son, Russell Pees, is active at Emmanuel Reformed United Church of Christ in Export.
Christine Bond Pees, of Murrysville, Westmoreland County, died Monday, Sept. 25, 2006, in Beverly Manor, Murrysville. She was 94.
In 1929, after graduation from Franklin High School in Murrysville, Mrs. Pees received a two-year teaching certificate from Indiana State Teachers College in Indiana County.
"My mother was the happiest when she was teaching children," Facteau said.
"She taught first- and second-grade classes at Franklin Elementary School in Murrysville and then in the North Strabane Township schools in Washington County before she left teaching to raise us."
Born and raised in Murrysville, Mrs. Pees was one of two daughters of Russell George and Kathryn Brunecke Bond. Her father was an employee of Peoples Gas Co.
As a youngster, Mrs. Pees attended Olive Reformed Church in Export, where she attended Sunday school and sang in the choir.
In 1938, while teaching in North Strabane, she married George Pees, an employee of American Cyanamid Co. in Bridgeville.
"When I went to work at the old St. Clair Refining Co., we moved to Murrysville, where I also became active in her church, which is now the Emmanuel Reformed United Church of Christ," her husband said.
"Christine joined the choir and taught Sunday school. She was a member of the church's quilting guild, which makes and provides quilts and robes for senior citizens and for patients in nursing homes.
"My wife was a sweet and gentle lady," Mr. Pees said. "She played the piano, both at church and at our home. We all enjoyed the holidays when we would gather around the piano, and she would entertain us by singing and playing the old hymns."
He recalled his wife's commitment to the Murrysville Monday Musical Group, a group of women who visited senior citizens and shut-ins.
Mrs. Pees is survived by her husband, George H. Pees; two daughters, Lois Earnest, of Ypsilanti, Mich., and Marian Facteau, of Massena, N.Y.; a son, Russell Pees, of Wilkins; and two grandchildren, Karen Assenmacher and Adam Facteau.
She was preceded in death by a sister, Gladys Bond Davis.
Visitation will be from 7 to 9 p.m. today and from 2 to 4 p.m. and 7 to 9 p.m. Thursday at the Hart Funeral Home Inc., Murrysville.
Services will be held at 10 a.m. Friday in Emmanuel Reformed United Church of Christ, Export, with the Rev. Richard Seigfried officiating.
Burial will be in Twin Valley Memorial Park, Delmont.