Fern Belt, 88

Fern (Newman) Belt, 88, passed away peacefully on July 13, 2012, at Crestwood Medical Center in Huntsville, Ala., with her son and daughter at her side.

She had recently moved from Sturgis to Huntsville to be closer to family members. She will be cremated in Huntsville with funeral services to take place at 11 a.m. Aug. 11, 2012, at First United Methodist Church in Sturgis.

The Rev. Deb Johnson will officiate. Internment will be in Oak Lawn Cemetery, where she will lie next to her husband of 57 years, Lt. Col. Warren H. Belt.

Fern was preceded in death by her parents, Bertha and Glen Newman; her two sisters, Beatrice (Newman) Smith, Hazel (Newman) Radant; and her brother, Kenneth Newman.

She leaves behind Steven Belt of Fayetteville, N.C., Pamela and Jurgen Ebeling-Belt of Huntsville and David and Patricia Belt of Georgetown, Texas.

She is also survived by her brother Dick and sister-in-law Lorraine Newman of Sturgis; several nieces and nephews; her great-grandchildren, John Belt, Brytt Ebeling-Belt, Michelle Baran, Patrick Belt and Catherine Belt; and great-great-grandchildren, Ian, Morgan, Allison and Daniel.

Fern loved her family and enjoyed a 28-year career as a U.S. Army wife. Her foreign travels took her to occupied Japan immediately after World War II, and later to Asuncion, Paraguay, and the Panama Canal Zone.

During her lifetime, she either lived in or visited every state in the U.S.A. and was conversant in both Spanish and English.

She was a 1941 graduate of Sturgis High School and in her later decades enjoyed residing in Sturgis, where she had the luxury of many close friendships. She took great joy in her participation with The Birthday Club and the Wednesday Morning Bible Study Group and her membership at First United Methodist Church.

Hackman Family Funeral Homes – Hackman Chapel, 114 S. Nottawa St., Sturgis, is entrusted with local arrangements.

Fern’s obituary is also at www.hackmanfamilyfuneralhome.com, where personal messages of support may be left for the family.