|
Obituary
Rhona Bridges Setliff (97) of
Huntington died at home on April 6, 2022. She was born on November 27, 1924,
to Arthur and Edith (Parfitt) Bridges, the youngest of their six children,
and grew up in the small village of Farmborough, Somerset County, England.
Rhona was an excellent student and was usually top of her class
academically; she ran the relay on her school Track team as well as playing
Field Hockey. Rhona was an eye witness to and a survivor of the Battle of
Britain (1940), distinctly seeing swastikas on the Luftwaffe bombers as they
flew low over the southern England countryside. To support the English war
effort, Rhona worked in a munitions factory. She met a young American
soldier at a dance on the second day of his deployment in England; that
soldier was Howard Wilson Setliff of Hurricane, WV. They kept in touch by
mail as Howard was moved to other bases in England then on to Belgium, The
Netherlands, Germany, and France, where he participated in the D-Day
invasion, and were married at All Saints Church in Farmborough on July 24,
1945. Howard returned home to Hurricane, and Rhona arrived on April 8, 1946;
she became a US citizen in 1955.
Rhona worked at Sears in Huntington until retiring in 1986 and became an
active member of the Sears Retirees Club. She was Past President of the
American Legion Huntington Post 16 Women’s Auxiliary and was named West
Virginia Volunteer of the Year in 2004. Rhona also volunteered at the
Huntington VA Hospital and loved baking her English All Butter Shortbread
for the big annual Bake Sale. After retiring, Rhona learned to play Bridge
by taking lessons at The Temple in Huntington; she met some wonderful people
and made some great friends while playing in various Bridge groups through
the years. Her other interests were Marshall Football, reading, cooking,
baking, sewing, and knitting. She attended the 26th Street Church of Christ.
Rhona was preceded in death by her parents, sisters Edna and Olive, and
brothers Les, Jack, and Joe, all of Somerset County, England, and by her
husband Howard. She is survived, and will be missed, by her loving family:
daughter Lynda (Jim) Summers of Snellville, GA; grand-daughters Tara (Chris)
Wieseman of Loganville, GA, and Jessica (Greg) Angle of Winder, GA; four
great grand-children Summerlyn and Harrison Wieseman and Owen and Olivia
Angle; several nieces and nephews, a special “niece” Judy Napier of
Barboursville; a host of friends including her special friends John and
Debbie Keyser and Ernestine Adkins of Huntington; and her cat Marco.
There will be no visitation. A private graveside service will be held for
the family. Henson and Kitchen Mortuary, Huntington, WV, near Barboursville
is caring for the family.
|
