Everybody loved Bessie.
Bessie Steinagel is Artena's first lady missionary companion— and by far the most memorable. What would you like to know?
She's a capable pianist, sings soprano, and knows how to sew. She likes ice cream piled high, going to the picture show, and overindulging in (candy) kisses.
She forgets her pen after she moves and asks to have it sent in the mail. She is not alone: the twentysomething missionaries are always losing everything: billfolds, money, you name it.
In Lincoln, Bessie helps greenie Artena fend off a smarmy investigator. "Sister Steinagel told me she really gets tired of his compliments," warns Artena's diary.
Everyone cries when Bessie is transferred. She bequeaths Artena her "mission purse" (a leather satchel) when she departs for Denver. Years later, in the depths of the Great Depression, Artena cut up the purse and had it made into shoes for her twin girls.
Bessie and Maude Garlick (above), her fellow lady missionary and future sister-in-law, were selected together in 1923 to be the first lady missionaries from the Sacramento area. Their farewell party had a program, dancing, and games.
Upon the completion of her mission, Bessie's Denver farewell featured "numerous games" and "dainty refreshments".
Bessie married and returned to Sacramento where she raised a family (at least two sons and a daughter). She was widowed at 50. The Garlick family mortuary handled the funeral. In August 1986, Bessie Steinagel died in Salt Lake City, Utah. It was nearly a year to the date that Artena had passed. But thanks to Artena's diary and the glories of FamilySearch.org, Newspapers.com et al....they'll both be here forever.
Photos: FamilySearch.org
Newspaper clippings: Newspapers.com
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