Rita Joan Bass-Bartley

Rita Joan (Joan) Bass-Bartley, age 93, has passed away.  

Joan was born in New Orleans, LA, at the old Charity Hospital.  She was a loving and devoted mother. She grew up and lived as a resident of Biloxi, Mississippi for most of her 93 years. Her father was a baker at the Veteran’s Administration, part owner of the Biloxi Bakery, and later purchased the Wiggins Bakery. Her mother was a homemaker.  Her great grandparents, Vincent Paul Bass, and family, came to Biloxi in 1847 and were some of the earliest Biloxi residents and Catholic parishioners of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary Cathedral.  

In 1972, she was employed at The Daily Herald which later became The Sun Herald.

In 1986, she received the Gulf Publishing Company’s Employee of the Year award. The award was in its third year and she had been nominated each of the three years.  After 22 years with the newspaper, she retired in 1994.  

After her retirement, Joan and her beloved twin sister, Jane, spent time traveling to visit their children and grandchildren. The twins, Joan and Jane, and many of their family, have been reunited by our Father in Heaven.

Joan was preceded in death by her husband, William (Bill) Henry Bartley (Brooklyn, NY); parents, Vincent Paul Bass and Frances Margaret Kantzell-Bass (Biloxi, MS); paternal grandparents, Frank Paul Bass and Rose O’Dwyer Bass (Biloxi, MS); maternal grandparents, Aloysius William Kantzell and Elizabeth Pfister-Kantzell (Biloxi, MS); daughter, Deborah Ann Bartley-Lee (Sugar Land, TX); twin sister, Ann Jane Bass-Sims (Biloxi, MS); brothers, Raymond Vincent Bass and William Vernon Bass (Biloxi, MS); and nephews, John Randall Sims (Biloxi, MS) and Raymond Vincent Bass, Jr. (Pagosa Springs, CO).

She is survived by her daughter, Carol Lynn Bartley-Bowman (Austin, TX); three grandsons, Chase Matthew Bowman (Austin, TX) and Collin Reid Bowman (Sierra Maust Bowman) (Denver, CO), and William Jared Lee (Sugar Land, TX); nephew, Vincent Lloyd Sims (Claudia Rosolen) (Las Vegas, NV); and nieces, Meridith Helen Bass-Overby (Biloxi, MS), Bernard (Bernie) Wink Bass-Lieb (Phillip) (Ridgeland, MS),  Katherine Bass-Louviere (Chad) (Biloxi, MS), and Marion Grace Leary-Dreyfus (John) (Long Island, NY).

In lieu of flowers, the family prefers donations be made to St. Jude's Research.

A private graveside service will be held at the Biloxi National Cemetery.

Bradford-O'Keefe Funeral Home is honored to serve the family and friends of Rita Joan (Joan) Bass-Bartley.