Freda Mae Bussa

Before her marriage she worked at Kresge Department Store, Selby Shoe Company, and briefly at an insurance company.

She and William Chester Bussa Jr. were married on June 24, 1949 at Sacred Mission in Wheelersburg, Ohio (the day was so hot their candles melted!). They were in full-time song evangelism their first year of marriage. When at home Freda played the organ at the Pilgrim Holiness Church in Portsmouth, Ohio and Chester played the piano.

When they started being blest with children, she became a “stay-at-home” Mom. As the children grew, the family began singing together all over the United States and Mexico. She directed VBS for several years, was children’s worker at church camps, and she taught Sunday School. She was also the director for the YMWB (Young Missionary Workers’ Band) for 10 years in Ohio. Freda’s favorite two hobbies were reading and making quilts. In her approximate 68 years of making quilts, she made over 2000. She gave many to pastors and missionaries, as well as making them for all of the children, grands, great-grands and great-great-grands.

She said her fondest memories were when she and Chester moved to Wesleyan Village in Brooksville, Florida and the 8 missions trips and other trips (50 states/50 countries) they took after Chester retired. She served in various capacities both at the church and the village. She told her children if she had it to do over again, she wouldn’t change a thing.

She is preceded in death by her husband, W.C. Bussa Jr.; her parents, James R. and Ethel (Adkins) Fannin; a son, Dany Joe Bussa; a brother, Roy E. Fannin; and a sister, Hazel I. Cooper. She is survived by sons, Paul Ray (Cindy) Bussa of Marion, OH and Mark Lee Bussa of Palm Springs, CA; daughters, Ruth Ann (Jerry) Foster of N. Tazewell, VA and Mary Sue (Ken) Burchett of Frankfort, OH; 3 grandsons, Stephen Foster of Princeton, WV, Michael (Shana) Burchett of Greenfield, OH, and Matthew (Rebakah) Bussa of Galena, OH; 6 granddaughters, Kimberly (Troy) Butcher of Frankfort OH, Stephanie (Shawn) Forbes of Bluefield, VA, Kristina Dalton of Frankfort, OH, Jessica Prather of Marion, OH, Holly Bussa and Amber Bussa of Fremont, NE; 9 great-grandsons, 12 great-granddaughters, 6 great-great-grandsons, and 2 great-great-granddaughters.

A Visitation for family and friends will be held 10-11:00am, Saturday, April 15, 2023 at Brooksville Wesleyan Church, where Services begin at 11:00am, conducted by her grandson, Michael Burchett. The family of Freda and the Village friends will be providing the music. Interment to immediately follow at Florida Hills Memorial Gardens, Spring Hill, Florida. Funeral arrangements are under the direction of Merritt Funeral Home, Brooksville, Florida.