A stroke ended the long, productive life of Charlotte (Hale) Simmons Ferris, 98. She peacefully slipped away from her earthly physical and dementia-related struggles on Monday, May 17, 2021 at Elmcroft Memory Care with her daughter present. Charlotte was the second child born to William N. and Myrtle (McDowell) Hale in Lynn County, Kansas on February 25, 1923. They moved from the Dust Bowl (and one-room schoolhouse) to Indiana in 1937, where Charlotte graduated from Muncie Central High School in 1940.

During WWII, Charlotte worked in the Willamette shipyards of Portland, OR and for an agricultural company in Riverside, CA. Back in Muncie, she worked in the offices of Broderick Manufacturing, Ball Brothers Union, and an insurance company. She was introduced to handsome bank teller, Hugh R. Ferris, and they were married March 24, 1950 and had one daughter, Karen. Hugh was buried the day after their 69 th wedding anniversary in 2019. Together they traveled to Europe, The Bahamas, Canada, Mexico and all 50 states except Alaska. She especially liked a morning walk along Daytona Beach and their 20 th anniversary trip to Hawaii. They enjoyed attending Karen's musical performances with America's Hometown Band and Masterworks Chorale.

Charlotte was well-known for her 'stitch-perfect' home arts projects and garments. She made everything in the house but the furniture, which could be reupholstered. Her family was lovingly kept in fashionable clothing and sweaters from doll and baby clothes to wedding attire. She created dozens of quilts that she and a family friend, Ruth Langley, hand-stitched on Saturday evenings. She learned to crochet as a youngster with butcher's twine, and when her daughter needed a sweater for a school production, she picked up a book and taught herself to knit. Later, she worked and taught a variety of needle arts at Fenstemacher's Fabric Shop. She was the knitting instructor for High Street's Update Learning for two decades. She often made items upon request or completed projects others started. Charlotte and Hugh liked to travel, so every new place meant a visit to the local fabric/yarn shop. From her leftover and donated yarns, she contributed 162 sweaters to the Guidepost "Knit for Kids" project. The last set of five was incomplete due to her 2014 stroke. Perhaps her most notable and public work is the filet crochet piece, "The Last Supper," which spans over the double-door sanctuary entrance of Gethsemane UMC.

Charlotte enjoyed solving jigsaw puzzles, growing flowers, and collecting Hummel figurines and music boxes. Charlotte bowled in several leagues into her eighties and was secretary of the Women's Church League for several years. She received the "Most Improved" award the year she broke her right wrist early in the season and finished bowling with her left hand. She was 80 at the time.

Charlotte and Hugh stayed active into their eighties, even to the extent they provided daycare for their infant great-granddaughter, Kori. It is questionable who trained who, but she became known as Granny's Girl.

Charlotte was a 75-year member of Women of the Moose (#712). She and Hugh visited Mooseheart, which she supported. She was a member of the Opti-Mrs Club, a 60-year member of Gethsemane UMC, where she was active or an officer in Dorcas Circle, United Methodist Women and Prayer Shawl Ministry. She recently had been attending St. Paul's UMC where her daughter was organist.

In addition to her parents and husband, Charlotte was preceded in death by her sisters, Cora Mae Snow, Rosalie Gibson, and Alta Estes and a son Larry Jene Simmons.

Charlotte is survived by daughter, Karen Bartling (Michael Costello); grandson, Kris Bartling; granddaughter, Kimberly (Matthew) Burns; great-grandsons, Brandon (Katelyn), Nicholas (Cierra), and Logan Bartling and Kendel Burns; great granddaughters, Marie and Kori Burns; (5 th generation) great-great granddaughters, Harper, Marleigh, and Nova Bartling; and several nieces and nephews.

Services will be held Tuesday, June 1, 2021 at 2 PM in Garden View Funeral Home, 10501 North State Road 3, Muncie with Pastor Nancy Cole-Hunt officiating. Visitation will be prior to services beginning at noon, also in the Funeral Home. Burial will follow in Gardens of Memory Cemetery, Muncie. Online condolences may be made by visiting www.gardenviewandgardensofmemory.com .

COVID-19 Limitations: Effective Monday, February 8, 2021, Garden View Funeral Home and Gardens of Memory Cemetery are limited to a maximum of 50 people wearing masks inside or outside. Once the maximum is reached, additional visitors will be permitted for entry only as others exit. No outside food or beverages are permitted to be brought in at this time. Thank you for your cooperation.