Lena Pearl Truster
Lena Pearl Truster, Midway, Texas, went to be with her Lord and Savior Jesus Christ on Aug. 22, 2021.
She was born the youngest of 12 children on Aug. 27, 1940, to Stoddard Franklin Bridgman and Rosa Mabel Zuspann in the Woodland community, Mo. Her parents are both deceased.
Lena Pearl Truster
She was raised in Palmyra, Mo., where she met and married her life-long partner of 62 years, Billy Edwin Truster, on Oct. 25, 1958. In 1960 they purchased a farm near Hannibal, Mo. where they raised their five children.
Lena worked as a bookkeeper in various companies in the Hannibal area and ultimately opened her own accounting and tax practice while attending Culver-Stockton College in Canton, Mo.
In 1978 at age of 37 and with children between the ages of 13 to 18, she graduated second in her class with a bachelor of business administration and economics and then became a CPA.
In 1981 the family moved to Houston, Texas during a depressed job market in Missouri and while Texas experienced the oil boom. They moved to the Conroe, Texas area in 1985, and Lena established her own tax and accounting practice. In 1999, they established their retirement home near Midway, Texas.
Lena enjoyed spending many hours and travels with genealogy.
Lena is survived by her husband; five children and one stepson. Her children are Beverly Sue Cordray (John), Conroe Texas; Tracy Ellen Hammond (Tod), Blanco Texas; Thomas Edwin Truster (Kim), Palmyra; Rose Ann Dickey (Buddy), Midway Texas; and Teddy Joe Truster (Joanetta), Hannibal; and her stepson, Robert Wayne Miller, Madisonville, Texas. She is also survived by 11 grandchildren, 24 great-grandchildren and two great-great-grandchildren.
Lena was preceded in death by her parents; and her 11 siblings, Raymond Bridgman, Elsie Proudfoot, Wanda McKinney, Glenn Bridgman, Emma Paugh, Joseph Bridgman, Robert Bridgman, Benjamin Bridgman, Nadine Schriener, Joshua Bridgman and Enoch Bridgman; and two great-grandchildren.
A memorial service to celebrate her life will be held at 2 p.m., Friday, Aug. 27, at Elwood Baptist Church, 14778 OSR, Midway, Texas 75852 with Rev. Glenn Connor officiating. This would have been her 81 birthday.
