L. Mae Harkness

L. Mae Harkness, age 91, of Elizabeth, Illinois, formerly of Hanover, Illinois, died Wednesday, July 26, 2006 in Finley Hospital, Dubuque, Iowa. Funeral Services will be held 10:30 a.m. Saturday, July 29, 2006 at the United Presbyterian Church, Hanover, with Pastor Lynn Matthews officiating. Burial will take place in the Log Church Cemetery, rural Hanover. Friends may call from 6:00-8:00 p.m. Friday, July 28, 2006 at the Law-Jones Funeral Home, Hanover, Illinois. A Memorial Fund has been established. Condolences may be sent to the family at www.lawjonesfuneralhome.com .
Mae was born May 18, 1915 to Warren and Luella (Cook) Sanderson in Rodden, Illinois. She attended Black School and graduated from Hanover High School, Class of 1933. On March 29, 1934, Mae married Edward Raymond Patterson in Galena, Illinois. Raymond died March 3, 1980. On March 6, 1982 she married Harvey Harkness in Hanover, Illinois.
Mae enjoyed being a farmwife and raising her children. She liked cooking, quilting, gardening and farming. Mae worked six years in the rating department at the Economy Insurance Company in Freeport, Illinois She was a member, Past President and an Elder of the Hanover Presbyterian Church, Hanover. She held membership with the United Presbyterian Women, the Jo Daviess Home Bureau, and volunteered her time as a Leader with 4-H Club of America.
Mae will be dearly missed by her two daughters, Judith (Vincent) Vesely of Hanover and Shirley (Dale) Dodson of Hemingford, Nebraska; two sons, Robert (Betty) Patterson of Hanover, and Richard (Deborah) Patterson of Hanover, Illinois; one brother, Leland (Carol) Sanderson of Galena; fifteen grandchildren; twenty-nine great-grandchildren; thirteen great-great grandchildren and one step-great grandchild;
Mae was preceded in death by both husbands, three brothers, Harold, Stanley and LaVerne; and one sister, Elva Sullivan.