Bessie Bray Fawcett

Bessie Bray Fawcett 75, died in the care of the Casa de la Luz Hospice in Oro Valley on March 29, 2011. Bessie moved with her late husband, Jackson Fawcett, to Tucson from New York City in 1991. At the time of the move, she retired from a career in education, the last 23 years as an English and business-education teacher at Louis D. Brandeis High School in New York. Bessie was born to Frank and Elsie Bray in Pierce, Colo., and grew up on the family farm in Greeley, attending Colorado State College, now the University of Northern Colorado, there. After receiving her degree in education in 1960, she taught for three years in West Germany for the United States Army, then worked in the Washington office of Senator Gordon Allott of Colorado before resuming her teaching career. Passionate about ballroom dancing, she also pursued an interest in piano in her later years, and split her time between Tucson and New York, where she maintained an apartment. She is survived by her stepdaughters, Susan Fawcett Sosin of Alta, Utah and Cynthia Fawcett of Clarkdale, Ariz.; her step-grandchildren, Clifford, Tyler and Clarissa Sosin and her sisters, Katherine Stone, Ruby Johnson, Wilma Bolden, Barbara Burrough, Helen Gouge, Joyce Ingersoll and Carol Harding, all of Colorado and Doris Rowland of Powell, Wyo. Bessie was cremated and, in accordance with her wishes, there will be no formal service. Memorial donations may be made to the Casa de la Luz Hospice. Arrangements by DESERT SUNSET FUNERAL HOME.