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Retha M. Busey

Feb 25, 2022

Retha Mary Conrad Busey, 95 of Martinsburg passed on Feb. 6, 2022 in Boca Raton, Florida. She was born March 26, 1926, in Randolph County WV. She was the daughter of the late Freddie and Mazie E Hamrick Conrad of Webster County, WV. The family later moved to Webster County, WV, where she grew up and graduated from the Webster Springs High School in 1944. After graduation she was employed at the Glenn L. Martins airplane factory in Baltimore, as a secretary, where they assembled the B-26 and B-29 airplanes until the end of World War II, when her employment ended.

Retha returned to West Virginia and enrolled at West Virginia Institute of Technology to pursue an Associate Arts degree. During that time she met and later married George W. Busey, a GI pursuing a degree in Industrial Arts. She was employed as secretary to the Academic Dean at the college until George graduated. When they moved to Berkeley County she completed an A.B. degree in Secondary Education at Shepherd College. While there she became a member of Who’s Who among students of American Colleges and Universities, a member of Shepherd’s International Honor Society, and graduated Magna Cum Laude.

She began her teaching career in 1959 in the Business Education Department of South Hagerstown High School where she remained for 30 years. Also during these years she earned a Masters Degree in Business Education at Shippensburg College in PA, and a Masters Equivalency in Counseling. She thoroughly enjoyed 30 years of teaching and retired from the Washington County School System in 1989. In summary, she was a secretary for ten years and a teacher of Business Education for thirty years, and after retiring she was a volunteer at the VA Medical Center in Martinsburg for 23 years, during which time she was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award.

Retha had the honor of being a 50 year member of St. Luke’s United Methodist Church and was a long time member of the Caring and Sharing Sunday School Class.Both her church and her family were a very important part of her life.

In addition to her parents, Retha was preceded in death by her husband George W. Busey; one sister Norma Cogar; one brother Floyd Conrad; and one granddaughter Chessa Jordan.

She is survived by one daughter, Kathy Busey of NC; one son Scott Busey and wife Ilene of FL, three granddaughters; Tracey Conrad-McAbee and husband, Fred, of MD, Samantha E. Busey, and Linsday Buthe of FL; 4 great granddaughters: Kendra and Erin McAbee, and Ayla and Autumn Buthe, and one great grandson, Nathan Buthe. She is also survived by one sister Nora Warren, and husband Edgar, of NC; three nieces; Terrill Massey, Bea Parsons, and Laura Miller; three nephews; Glenn Conrad, Tom Cogar, and Brad Warren, and several cousins.

All services will be private. Interment will be in Pleasant View Memory Gardens.

Online condolences can be sent to www.rosedalefuneral.com.