Obituary of Edith Frances Bahls

Edith Frances (Nance) Bahls was born on March 31, 1928, in a farmhouse in Meigs County, Tennessee, near Decatur.  She was the seventh of nine children born to Luther Earnest and Ida Daisy (Carter) Nance.  She passed away on July 31, 2023, in Peoria, Arizona.

She was baptized at the age of twelve by immersion in a flowing stream near Shiloh Baptist Church, Decatur, Tennessee.  In 1966 she was confirmed in the Lutheran faith at Hope Lutheran Church, Aurora, Colorado by Pastor Walter Kirk.

Edith received her early education at Shiloh School and Meigs County High School in Decatur, Tennessee.  She graduated in 1974 from the Community College of Denver in Denver, Colorado with a degree in Early Childhood Education and Management.

Edith met her future husband, William H. Bahls, in a movie theater on August 13, 1944, while Bill was stationed at an Army camp near Chattanooga, Tennessee.  They were married on August 8, 1945, in Rossville, Georgia.  To this union three children were born; two sons; Daryl, a retired Boeing Aerospace Engineering Technical Fellow; Dale, a retired Lutheran Missouri Synod Pastor and one daughter, Dawn, a retired Financial Administrator.

Edith enjoyed working with children, beginning in 1950 at The School for Physically Handicapped Children at the University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa, then later at Hope Lutheran Day Care Center and finally as Director of St. Mark’s Lutheran Pre-School and Kindergarten, both in Aurora, Colorado.  She was a member of NAEYC (National Association for Education of the Young Child).   She retired in 1992.

Other interests included cooking for family gatherings, counted cross stitch, sun and moon rises and sets, walking, hiking in the mountains of Colorado and traveling in her and Bill’s RV.  She served in the Altar Guild for thirty-one years at Hope Lutheran Church in Aurora, Colorado and Fountain of Life Lutheran Church in Sun City, Arizona.   She had been a member of the TOPS Club International since 1959.

She was preceded in death by her husband of almost 74 years, William H. Bahls, in 2019.  She is survived by; two sons, Daryl (wife Randy) and Dale and daughter Dawn Walters (widow of John Walters); three grandchildren, John “Billy” Walters (wife BaLeigh), Ashley Jones (husband Nic) and Tiffany Foltz (husband Joe); and three great-grandchildren.

In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to Atonement Lutheran School, Glendale, Arizona, or a charity of your choice.