Mrs. Elizabeth Bulla, Albany's Venerable Citizen, Answers the Summons Tuesday Afternoon -- Quietly Slept Her Life Out.
Albany's oldest citizen, and the only centenarian in Gentry county, Mrs. Elizabeth Bulla, died at the home of her daughter, Mrs. John S. Williams, in Albany Tuesday afternoon, September 4th, at ten minutes till three. She had reached the unusual age of 101 years 5 months and 12 days.
It will be remembered that when Grandma Bulla ("Aunt Betsy" as she was known to the old time residents) celebrated her 100th birthday anniversary she was clear of mind and fairly strong of body and realized the meaning of having reached the century mark in years, but since that time there has been a gradual, although slow, decline of her body and faculties, and at her 101st anniversary, there had been a marked change, and all realized that the body was wearing out. A week or ten days before her death came she took a change for the worse, and for several days before the end came she quietly slept, and when the end did come life ebbed out without a tremor — and she slept the sleep that knows no waking.
The history of this remarkable old "mother in Israel" has been told so many times in these columns that a story of it would be only a repetition of what has been given heretofore.
It will be remembered that Mrs. Bulla was a native of Tazewell county, Virginia, and was born March 22, 1822. Her maiden name was Elizabeth Witten, being a daughter of Hiram and Jane Lard Witten. She was married January 5, 1843, to Andrew Jackson Bulla, who died in 1893. They came to Gentry County about 1854, and for almost 70 years she and her family have been connected with the history of this section.
Mrs. Bulla was the mother of nine children, four of whom are now living. They are Mrs. Emily Williams and Andrew Jackson Bulla, of Albany; Jas. H. Bulla, of South Omaha, and Dr. Chas. D. Bulla, of Berkley, California. Her descendants also include twenty-five grandchildren, twenty-six great grandchildren, and two great great grandchildren.
Mrs. Bulla had been a member of the Southern Methodist church since early life, and she was a loyal supporter of her church and upholder of the faith. Having been born of southern blood in a southern state, surrounded by slaves in her early days, she retained her early convictions during her entire life.
In the later years of her life she was given opportunities which come to comparatively few persons of the great central west. While Mr. Bulla lived and while she was rearing her family her life was necessarily circumscribed by her home duties and her thoughts were of them and of her local interests. But after her husband's death she came to make her home with her daughter, Mrs. Williams in Albany, and from that time she made good use of the opportunities presented her. For a number of years she would spend a part of her time with her son, Dr. Charles, at various cities in the southeast, where many advantages were given her. She was privileged to witness the inauguration of several presidents and also given other unusual advantages of life in the capital city. She made probably twenty or more trips from Albany to Virginia, Maryland and the District of Columbia, during her later years, always going alone, and priding herself on her independence. But a few years ago she admitted that she needed the assistance of her children on her return trip, and since that time she had not cared to leave her home here.
No person could have been more tenderly cared for than Mrs. Bulla was by her daughter and the other relatives. Every comfort and consideration that could be given her was given, and the declining years were years of joy and peace, and it must be a sense of satisfaction to the relatives to realize that their service was instrumental in making the sunset of her life the pleasure it was.
Funeral services were held at the Methodist church Wednesday afternoon conducted by her pastor, and attended by a large crowd of the citizens, and burial was in the family plot of the family graveyard, the Bulla, northeast of town.
--The Albany Ledger, Albany, Gentry County, Missouri, Thursday, September 6, 1923, page 1.
