Ann L. Rees

</element><element id="paragraph-1" type="body"><![CDATA[ Ann L. Rees, 89, of Du Quoin, passed away at 8 a.m.., Saturday, January 3, 2009 at her residence.

She was born in rural Perry County, November 6, 1919, the daughter of the late Bert Jackson and the late Olie (Heape) Jackson.

She married Ben H. Rees, her cherished companion and partner for sixty-eight years, on December 21, 1940. She is survived by her husband and their two children: David Rees (married to Donna Gates) of Skokie, and Mary Beth Rees of Marion. She is also survived by her two grandchildren, Benjamin Rees and Lucy Rees of Skokie and many nieces and nephews.

Her parents, her brothers, Russell Jackson and Dean Jackson, and her daughter Sue Ellen Rees preceded her in death.

After graduation from Pinckneyville High School, she attended business college in Centralia and worked in the Centralia area in various offices. After marriage, she and her husband lived in Portsmouth, Virginia, where she managed a housing complex and affiliated grade school for the federal government. After her husband was discharged from the Army at the end of World War II, they lived in Huntington, W.Va., Pittsburgh, Columbus, Kansas, Marion, and Boonville, Ind., while her husband held various positions with different coal companies.

In 1969, she and her husband returned to Du Quoin where they formed Rees Mine Supply Sales, Inc., a company selling mine supplies to the coal industry. She managed the office for many years while her husband and her nephew Royce Jackson traveled a five state territory providing services to the mining industry. She and her husband retired in 1995.

Ann was an energetic and capable woman who loved and inspired her family. A life long reader, in earlier years she also enjoyed dancing, golf, and traveling. She was a member of the First United Methodist Church in Du Quoin. She was also very active in a number of activities and clubs until she developed serious allergies that limited her ability to travel and be around people.

Graveside services will be at 10:30 a.m. Thursday, January 8, 2009 at the Sunset Memorial Park in Du Quoin with Rev. Michael Ebersohl officiating.

Friends may call from 5 to 8 p.m. Wednesday at the Searby Funeral Home in Du Quoin.

Burial will be in the Sunset Memorial Park at Du Quoin.

Those attending the services are asked to go directly to the cemetery.

In lieu of flowers, please consider a memorial to the First United Methodist Church of Du Quoin or the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society and will be accepted at the funeral Home.

For additional information or to sign the memorial guest register, please visit www.searbyfuneralhomes.com.