Val Birket

1916 - 2007

Val Cecilia Birket, 91, widow of Ralph O. Birket (a Peoria native and  

long-time employee of Illinois Bell Telephone Company), died on  

December 23 at Sunny Acres in Petersburg after a long illness.  She  

had lived in the Springfield area for nearly 50 years.

The daughter of George and

 Harriet Wright Struebing, she was born December 12, 1916,

Cecile Velma Struebing in Bellflower, Illinois, and graduated from  

high school in Coffeyville, Kansas. A former beauty queen, she  

attended business school for 2 years before working as an operator  

and chief operator at Illinois Bell in Champaign.  She married Ralph  

Birket in 1947 and thereafter was a mother, homemaker, and caregiver, 

including serving on the Altar Guild of St. Ambrose Episcopal Church  

in Chicago Heights and on local PTAs in that area and Springfield.

She is survived by her daughter, Sallie Birket Chafer, of Shenandoah  

Junction, West Virginia.

Cremation rites have been accorded. Hurley Funeral Home in Petersburg is in charge of arrangements.