ALBERTA NOVOLA 'BERT' WILMURTH, Age 78, a resident of Charleston, formerly of East Prairie, died Monday, January 9, 2012 at the Southeast Hospital in Cape Girardeau, Mo.

Born April 28, 1933, at Tuckerman, AR to the late Ellis and Babe Taylor Bowen and was a 1953 graduate of Grubbs High School in Grubbs, Arkansas. She had lived in East Prairie most of her life where she was a member of the First General Baptist Church. She was employed at the Bertrand Nursing Center and then with Walmart at Sikeston a number of years until her retirement.

On December 14, 1956, she married Billy Woodrow Wilmurth, who preceded her in death on November 13, 1981.

Surviving are: three sons and two daughters in law, Duane Lee and Janet Wilmurth of St. Louis, MO; James Ellis Wilmurth of Charleston and Calvin Eugene and Terri K. Wilmurth of Charleston; two sisters, Mary Emory of Bradford, AR and Ola Staggs of Hohenwald, TN; six grandchildren, Ashley Wilmurth Curtis, Duane Lee Wilmurth, Jr., Christina Wilmurth, Yoshiyuki Wilmurth, Daisy Kay Wilmurth and Audrey Novola Wilmurth.

Visitation will be from 5:00 p.m. until 8:00 p.m., Wednesday, January 11, 2012 at the McMikle Funeral Home in Charleston where funeral services will be conducted at 1:00 p.m., Thursday, January 12, 2012. Rev. Raymond Hannah, pastor of the First General Baptist Church in East Prairie, will officiate.

Interment will follow in the East Prairie Memorial Park Cemetery under the direction of the McMikle Funeral Home.

Pallbearers will be: Branston Branam, Jeff Bright, Frankie Day, Brent Horton, Jerry McClain, III and Tim Wynne.

Online condolences may be shared at www.mcmiklefuneralhome.com