Bessie MacWhirter, (neé Cull); was born at St. Anthony on October 31, 1950. She was daughter to Lester and Maude Cull of Englee. Bess, as she was commonly known, was the second of eight siblings of the Cull family. She completed her schooling at the United Church School in her hometown. She was quite astute and took first place in the last three years of her hometown education. Actually she skipped one of her early grades allowing her to complete her grade 11 at age 15. She then went on to teach school at 16 years of age. Her first teaching post was at St. Anthony Bight. Here she taught students older than herself and as Bess would say ‘’bigger too’’.Her first employment at Englee was playground attendant the first year the playground opened in this town. After her stint as a teacher she went on to St. John’s and studied as a lab technician. She found employment with Grenfell Medical Services at St. Anthony and subsequently did work at North West River and Baie Verte. Later she moved to Corner Brook hospital and then on to Gander where she was head tech and supervisor for the Central general area. Because of her extensive training she was used as a resource person to teach other trainees. Due to her husbands’ work as a long-hall trucker she moved to Leduc, Alberta where she found employment at the Devon Medical Lab. Her total employment counted 28 years of dedicated service. Actually Bess could be counted on to respond to a medical emergency any hour of the 24; come sun, rain, or blizzard. Bess passed away 2:15pm on November 7, 2015 at the Roddickton Health Center. She leaves to mourn, her husband Frank; sons Richard (Tina), Frank Jr. (Lori); daughter Rebecca; grandchildren, Rebecca, Nicholas, and Keesha; Brothers, Freeman (Glenda), Larry (Bessie), Wesley (Myrtle), and Morris (Josephine); sisters, Ada (Donald Weir), Cindy (Hughie Crewe), Winne (David Power); mother Maude; brothers in law, Alfred (Rose), and Patrick (Joanne); Step Brother Stanley Simms (Donna) and best friend of 46 years, Barbara Chaulk, along with many other friends and family. Bessie was predeceased by her father, Lester Cull.Visitation was held at the Apostolic Faith Church in Englee from where funeral services were held at 2:00pm on Thursday, November 12th, 2015. Internment followed at the Apostolic Faith Cemetery in Englee with Pastor George Burton officiating. Funeral Services were entrusted to Kerry M. Fillatres Funeral Home, St. Anthony and Roddickton, Lee Nippard funeral director.