Individual Details

Fern Bruner Bush died at age 98, in Ruston, Louisiana, on January 8, 2013.
Born in Smith County Texas, on February 26, 1914, she was the daughter of Elzy Bruner and Myrtle Hollis Bruner, the fourth of seven children.
Her three brothers and three sisters have all predeceased her.
Growing up in Mineola, Texas, in a large family with numerous aunts, uncles, and cousins nearby, she developed a love of family, family gatherings, and an interest in people. Her marriage to Haley Bush, who she called "Bush," brought her into another large and extended East Texas family that she enjoyed throughout her life. They built a home in Mineola, and their three children, two daughters and a son, were born there. When her husband's job transfers required moving, first to Longview, Texas, and then to Shreveport, Louisiana, she welcomed the moves, and settled into a life focused on home and family, church, and friends.
She liked to cook, and her peach cobblers, in particular, were generally acknowledged to be "the best ever." Shortly before his retirement, her husband became ill and she became a widow at age 52, just one month before the birth of her first grandchild.
With the encouragement of friends, she worked as a sales person in locally-owned shops, first in women's clothing and then jewelry. She often filled spare time with projects that ranged from refinishing furniture to quilting and other needlework. But one of her greatest pleasures was rocking her grandchildren and great grandchildren when they were babies, and she took advantage of many opportunities to do that. Eventually, she moved to Van, Texas, to be near her sisters, and later as her health declined, to Chapel Hill, North Carolina, and then to Ruston, Louisiana, where she had the help of her daughters and son.
In spite of her memory loss and declining health, she kept some of her quick wit and sense of humor.
At a celebration of her 98th birthday, for example, when a daughter asked if she knew how old she was, she said, "No' When asked if she would like to be told, she said, "Yes, Very quietly!"
She is survived by three children, five granddaughters, and twelve great-grandchildren: Beverly Bush
Patterson and her husband Dan, of Chapel Hill, North Carolina, and their daughters, Heather Boggs of
Cary, North Carolina; Holly O'Neill and her husband Sean of Boca Raton, Florida; Stacie Dietsch and her
husband Peter of Midland, TX and Shelley Hinkle and her husband John of Chapel Hill,
North Carolina; her son Jere Bruner Bush of Gun Barrel City, Texas; and her daughter Suzanne Bush
Rainer and her husband Joe, of Ruston, Louisiana, and their daughter Haley Holder and her husband
Dominik of Gloster, Louisiana. great- grandchildren: Alissa and Abby
Boggs; Emily an James O'Neill; Stephen, Timothy, Lydia, and Titus Dietsch; Maxwell, Oliver, and Evelyn
Hinkle; and E. J. Holder, and numerous nieces and nephews.
Visitation: Friday, Jan. 11, 2013
Service: Friday, Jan. 11, 2013
Cemetery: Corinth Church Cemetery

Birth	26 Feb 1914	Mineola, Wood County, Texas
Census (family)-shared	14 Jan 1920	(Elzy Bruner and Lillian Myrtle Hollis) Providence, Smith County, Texas
Census (family)-shared	15 Apr 1930	(Elzy Bruner and Lillian Myrtle Hollis) Mineola, Wood County, Texas
Marriage	14 Aug 1935	Wood County, Texas - Haley Bush
Death	8 Jan 2013	Ruston, Lincoln Parish, Louisiana
Burial		Corinth Cemetery, Timpson, Shelby County, Texas

Spouse	Haley Bush (1903 - 1966)
Child	Jere Bruner Bush (1944 - 2014)

Father	Elzy Bruner (1880 - 1954)
Mother	Lillian Myrtle Hollis (1884 - 1963)
Sibling	Vivian Bruner (1908 - 2003)
Sibling	Earl Bruner (1910 - )
Sibling	Ulman Hollis Bruner (1910 - 1974)
Sibling	Ruby Bruner (1912 - 2003)
Sibling	Worth E. Bruner (1917 - 1997)
Sibling	Ralph Bruner (1920 - 1998)
Sibling	Dorothy Marie Bruner (1923 - 2011)

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