Vera Eileen Cantley

Vera Eileen Cantley (nee: Gattung) was born in St. Louis, Missouri November 5, 1917 to the union of Lillian Etta Kimberlin and Herman Gattung. Herman was employed at the Commonwealth Steel Mill in Granite City, Illinois. They moved to Granite City in 1922 where Vera attended grade and high school. She married William Daniel Bowers on August 10, 1935. They made their home in River Rouge, Michigan and became the parents of three children Vivian Ethyl, Norman Lawrence and Linda Joyce. William was an iron worker and they traveled up and down the east coast for ten years.
Vera married Samuel Loyd Cantley of Granite City, Illinois on June 4, 1949 and they made their home in Cuba, Missouri. Loyd passed away on Christmas Eve in 1972. Vera started working in the office of a newspaper Cuba News and Review, then worked for the Cuba Times, the Rolla Daily News then for the Cuba Free Press. She served as the secretary of the Women's Civic Club and the Cuba Fair board and after the death of Rose Smith continued her Long Ago column for many many years. She married Hadley H. West April 23, 1977 and he passed away on June 17, 1978. She worked for seven years at Wal-Mart in the electronic department in Sullivan, Mo. She was baptized in the Lutheran faith at St. Paul's Church in Cuba in 1962. She lived in Cuba for forty three years and then moved to St. Charles and transferred her church membership to Chapel of the Cross in March 27, 1994.
Survivors are her daughter and son-in-law Eugene and Vivian Enloe, and their sons Eric Enloe and his three children Alexandra, Eric Jr. and Adam; David Enloe and wife Gena and daughter Olivia and son Samuel; Vera's son Retired Lt. Col. Norman Bowers and his wife Brigitte Bowers and their sons Greg his children Madison, Maximilian, Garret Bowers; Vera's daughter Linda Joyce Johnston and Husband Jim, and her sons Jim Johnson and his wife Vickie and children Jimmy, Joey and Jenni; Steve Johnson and his wife Mary and their sons Jay Johnson and his wife Theresa, Nick Johnson; Vera's brother Harold Gattung, Vera's two nieces Lois Holsinger and Arlene Johnson, and cousins Wanda Purviance and William Gattung.
In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to Meals on Wheels at St. Peters Senior Center.