ERIE — Barbara Sue (Bell) Heady, 72, of rural Erie died at 1:45 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 28, 2010, at Prairie Mission Retirement Village in St. Paul. She had been in failing health several years, but death was unexpected.

She was born June 1, 1938, at Columbus to Grant F. and Esther L. (Stroup) Bell. She grew up in Baxter Springs and graduated from Baxter Springs High School. She graduated from the Mt. Carmel School of Nursing at Pittsburg and became a registered nurse.

Throughout her adult life she specialized in geriatric nursing and worked at several nursing homes in the area. She was an excellent musician and played piano and organ in churches. For many years she was active in the Shaw Christian Church and in recent years in the Erie Federated Church.

On Sept. 11, 1959, she married Lewis Heady at First Christian Church in Baxter Springs. He survives of the home.

Other survivors include a son, Dr. Kent L. Heady and his wife, Cindy, of Wichita; a daughter, Kelli Heady of Parsons; two granddaughters, Sarah Heady and Jana Heady; and a sister, Connie Windsor of Grove, Okla.

She was preceded in death by her parents; and a sister, Sammy Dahl.

The service will be at 2 p.m. Friday at Erie Federated Church. Burial will follow in the Shaw Cemetery. The family will receive friends at the Pierce-Carson-Wall Funeral Home in Erie from 6 to 8 p.m. Thursday.

Memorials are suggested to the Federated Church. They may be left at or sent to the funeral home at P.O. Box 182, Erie, 66733.

Online condolences may be left at www.wallfuneralservices.com.