Maribelle A. Bechstein

Visitation will be from 3 – 7 p.m. Wednesday, June 21, 2017 at Bailey-Love Mortuary, 35 West Park Drive, Huntington, Indiana. Funeral Services will be held at 10 a.m. Thursday, June 22, 2017 at St. Peter’s First Community Church, 206 Etna Avenue, Huntington, with Rev. Raymond Scribner officiating. There will be one hour of visitation prior to the service. Burial will be in Lancaster Cemetery in Huntington County.

Preferred memorials are to St. Peter’s First Community Church or Love INC, in care of Bailey-Love Mortuary, 35 West Park Drive, Huntington, Indiana, 46750.

Maribelle was born on December 28, 1921 in Huntington County, the daughter of Paul D. Bouman and Clella (Harris) Bouman. She graduated from Huntington Township High School in 1940 and worked at a telephone office for a year. She married Lewis Earl Graham on June 21, 1942 in Huntington County; he preceded her in death on July 7, 1951 after nine years of marriage. A widow at 28 with two small children, she worked at JCPenney for two years, then met and married Nelson Bechstein, a widower with three small children, on May 24, 1953 in Huntington; he preceded her in death on July 13, 1992. Maribelle was co-owner of Bechstein’s Super Valu Store in Huntington with her husband, from where she retired. She enjoyed traveling with her husband, visiting Hawaii, Mexico, Canada, Jamaica, Puerto Rico, the Bahamas, the Caribbean, and seven European countries. She was an active life member of St. Peter’s First Community Church in Huntington, where she sang in the choir and served on many committees in the church. Maribelle was named by Rotary a Paul Harris Fellow and she volunteered for Red Cross and Miller’s Home. She served with the Huntington Hospital Guild and loved sewing. She was one of the last surviving members of the Penguin Club, which formed in 1938.

Survivors include a son, Paul J. Graham, a daughter, Candace (Anthony Sr.) Lisinicchia, a stepdaughter, Kay (Bruce) Stanton, and a sister, Virginia (Herbert) Oden, all of Huntington; 15 grandchildren, 21 great grandchildren, and a great-great grandchild. She is preceded in death by her parents, husbands, a son, Robert D. Graham, her brothers, Paul Dee Bouman and Robert Bouman, and two stepsons, John Nelson Bechstein and Steven W. Bechstein.