Born September 4, 1916 in Spartanburg County, SC, she was a daughter to the late James Robert Mitchell and Pansey Lee Buckner Mitchell. Bessie was a homemaker and a charter member of Pleasant View Community Church. She enjoyed gardening, working outdoors, knitting, going to church and especially taking care of her grandchildren.
In addition to her parents, she was preceded in death by her husband of seventy-one years, John Thomas Harris; grandson, Bobby Hoppes and three sisters, Thelma Conner, Ruth Skipper and Naomi Splawn.
Survivors include son, Carl “Bud” Harris and wife, Doris of Forest City, Lucille Hicks and husband, Junior of Bostic, Creola Jones and husband, Casey of Forest City, Helen LePage and husband, Richard of Lattimore, Pansey McCraw and husband, Gary of Sunshine Community, Paulette Smith and husband, Kirk of Bostic and Deborah Cabrera of Denton, Ohio; two sisters, Pearl Murray and Dean Jones both of Henrietta. She is also survived by twenty-three grandchildren, fifty-eight great-grandchildren, sixty-three great-great-grandchildren and two great-great-great-grandchildren.
Funeral services will be conducted at 2:00 p.m. on Tuesday, January 14, 2014 at the Pleasant View Community Church with Reverend Danny McCain, Reverend Chris Bowen and Reverend Roger Hall officiating. Interment will follow in Eternal Hills Cemetery. The family will receive friends one hour prior to service time at the church.
Memorial donations are suggested to Hospice of Rutherford County, PO Box 336, Forest City, NC 28043.
Harrelson Funeral and Cremation Services is serving the family.
