THELMA (PUTERBAUGH) NEESE , 80, of Pleasant Hill, died Thursday, April 7, 2011, at her residence. Thelma was born Sept.14, 1930 in Pleasant Hill, a daughter of Byron L. and Beulah Clark Puterbaugh. She first married Russell Myers and later married Robert “Bob” Guthrie Oct. 6, 1960 in Bowling Green, Mo. and he died July 6, 1992. She then married Dean L. Neese June 25, 1995 in Nebo and he died Feb. 20, 2004. Thelma was a homemaker and enjoyed gardening. She had attended the Pleasant Hill Christian Church. Survivors include two sons, Larry (wife Judy) Myers of Clarksville, Mo. and Danny (wife Joyce) Myers of Rockport; two daughters, Bobbie (husband Michael) Minor of Louisiana, Mo. and Robin (husband Jason) Hannel of Brussels; a step-son, Thomas Neese of Springfield, Mo.; seven grandchildren; and four great grandchildren. Also, three half-brothers, Bill Puterbaugh of Indianapolis, Ind., Barney Puterbaugh and David Puterbaugh, both of New Canton and two aunts, Louise Guthrie of Tucson, Ariz/ and Bessie Thomas of Louisiana, and numerous nieces and nephews. Thelma was preceded in death by her parents, her husbands, a brother, Wayne Puterbaugh and a sister, Shirley Pindell. Funeral services were held Monday, April 11 at 11 a.m. at the Lummis Funeral Home in Pleasant Hill conducted by Bro. Don Hannel. Burial followed at Crescent Heights Cemetery in Pleasant Hill. Visitation was held from 9 a.m. until the time of services on Monday at the funeral home. Memorials may be made to the Pleasant Hill American Legion Post 1048 or to the Pleasant Hill Fire Department. Lummis Funeral Home in Pleasant Hill is handling the arrangements.
Contributed by Billie Browning

LEWIS NEWSBAUMER - Died, near Kinderhook, Ill., March 5, 1880, Lewis Newsbaumer, of pneumonia. Whereas, It is the Divine will that our brother, Lewis Newsbaumer, be removed from our midst by death. Whereas, that the afflictions are peculiar, in that the orphan children, Rosa and Lillie M. Newsbaumer, are now doubly bereaved in the loss of father and mother. Therefore, Resolved That the sympathy of Kinderhook Lodge No. 135. I.O.G.T. be expressed and extended to the afflicted daughters.
Contributed by Virginia Gorton Bonne - [Barry Adage, 2 Apr 1880]

MAYNARD STOCKTON NIGHBERT - Widely-Known Veterinarian Was Twice Mayor of Pittsfield
Dr. Maynard S. Nighbert, Pike county veterinarian for more than a third of a century and twice mayor of this city of Pittsfield, died at his home on the Griggsville road...Thursday afternoon. He was in his 61st year....He began the practice of his profession in Pike county in 1909, following in the footsteps of his father, Dr. J. D. Nighbert, who began practicing here in 1889. For many years father and son practiced together, their office being above the present Cardinal Inn on West Washington street...A great number of sorrowing friends gathered in the Eddy chapel at 2:30 Saturday afternoon...Services were in charge of Rev. Russell E. Booker of the First Christian church in Pittsfield. Prof. Joe Shastid was in charge of the music....The minister harking back across some fifty years, recalled his own boyhood at Scottville in Macoupin county and of his earliest visit to the ancestral home of the Nighberts in that county. Maynard was then gone from that home but the elder Nighberts, the grandparents of Maynard, still resided there...Emma Smart, Edith Hesley and Dorothy Miller cared for the many flowers...Casket bearers were three neighbors of the country home and three of the city home. They were Thomas Jordan, Frank Penstone and Gerald Fudge from the country, and Steve Hoover, Hubert Thomas and Joe Brew from the city. Burial was in Oakwood (South) cemetery. Present from out of the county...were Iva and Geraldine Malone and Charles A. Ross from Palmyra, Ill.; Mr. and Mrs. Charles Lynch and Ernest Nighbert and Mrs. Ralph Close from Scottville, Ill.; Mr. and Mrs. A. J. Harding, White Hall; Mr. and Mrs. Ethyl McKeever, Winchester; Dr. and Mrs. R. L. Andrae and Mr. and Mrs. S. T. Harrison from Louisiana, Mo. Maynard Stockton Nighbert was born at Barr's Store, a small village in Macoupin county and close to the old Nighbert home, August 25, 1882, son of James David and Lilly Belle (Malone) Nighbert. He was one of two children born to this couple, the other being a younger sister, Miss Vida Nighbert of this city. Maynard's paternal grandfather, Nathaniel Adams Nighbert, a native Virginian, moving westward from the Old Dominion became one of the early settlers of Illinois. He engaged extensively in farming and stock...in Macoupin county, continuing a prosperous business up to the time of his death in 1903. There were seven children in the family which included Dr. J.D. Nighbert. Dr. and Mrs. J.D. Nighbert left Macoupin county in 1889 and came to Pittsfield, Ill. Maynard was then 7 years of age. Dr Nighbert had graduated with the degree of D.V.S. from the Ontario Veterinary College in Toronto, Canada, having...received honors for the best general examination in written, and oral anatomy and microscopy having been one of five called to compete for the gold medal awarded by the Ontario Veterinary Medical Association. Well equipped for his life's work, Dr. Nighbert took up his abode in Pittsfield. In 1881 he had married Miss Lilly Belle Malone, a native of Illinois and a daughter of M. C. Malone. In Pittsfield the family located first in the old Bart Stout house where Mrs. Ella Stone now lives on Clarksville street. Later they occupied the old Strubinger house on the site of the present Hattie Huseman residence on South Madison street. They next bought the Huntley house where Mrs. Guy Carlton now lives on South Memorial avenue (then South Webster street) and 48 years ago they bought from Rev. Turner the house at 413 South Memorial where Mrs. J. D. Nighbert and daughter Vida and granddaughter Marjorie still reside. Maynard died on the 48th anniversary of the family's removal to this home, which had been built by Rev. Turner only 5 years before. Maynard Nighbert attended the Ontario Veterinary College at Toronto, Canada, as had his father before him, graduating...with the degree of D.V.S. in 1907. Following his graduation he located in Louisiana, Mo....remaining there two years. On April 28, 1909 he married a Louisiana girl, Miss Lillian E. Barre. The couple moved at once to Pittsfield, occupying the house at 303 West Crane street which is now owned by Miss Vida Nighbert and occupied by the Fred Hoover family. One child was born to this marriage, a daughter, Miss Marjorie Nighbert of this city, who for several years has been connected with the Pittsfield Chamber of Commerce office. Marjorie's mother, now Mrs. Lillian Grant, lives at Pineville, La. Dr Nighbert was twice called to serve as mayor of Pittsfield, beginning his first 2-year term May 1, 1921. He gave such an excellent administration in his first term that he had no opposition for a second term. He was mayor from 1921 to 1925 succeeding George M. Smith and being succeeded by Dr. C. B. Ingalls. His administration was marked by the development of the great city water works program. "He was a good mayor," said Judge Lee Capps, Monday. Judge Capps spoke with full knowledge, having been city attorney when Maynard Nighbert was mayor. On September 8, 1926, Dr. Neghbert was again married, his second wife being Miss Audrey McKeever of Winchester, a daughter of John and Nola (Lacy) McKeever. She is a native of Bedford in Montezuma township, and a cousin of Dr. L. S. Lacy of this city. It was she who gave Dr. Nighbert such wonderful care in his last long illness....She had some nursing experience prior to her marriage, in the Norbury Sanitarium and at Maplewood in Jacksonville. There are three children of the second marriage, all boys, namely: John James, 14; Maynard, Jr. 13; and David, 11 today (Wednesday). Besides the widow and three sons and one daughter, Dr. Nighbert is survived by his mother, Mrs. J. D. Nighbert, and his sister, Miss Vida Nighbert of Pittsfield; and by an uncle, Dr. E. M. Nighbert (and his wife, Augusta Grote Nighbert), and an aunt, Mrs. Louie Morris, all of Cantonment, Fla. Dr. Nighbert for the last several years and until recently had resided in a home he built on South Memorial, just south of the city limits. There he had his office and kept his ponies, dogs, fowls, and various livestock. Two years ago this fall he moved to the farm on the Griggsville road, where his death occurred. The Charles Clostermery family lives in his home place on South Memorial. Dr. Nighbert belonged to the Knights Templar and Masonic lodges. He served as a state veterinarian during his long career in the county as a veterinary surgeon. He remained true to his calling until the very last and in the morning of the day he died he gave instructions for treatment of a sick animal. Dr. Nighbert had suffered from a heart ailment and attendant complications for several years, the first evidences of impending illness appearing as far back as 1934. During the last four years he had been partially invalided.
Contributed by Virginia Gorton Bonne - [Pike Co. Republican, 21 Jul 1943]