WINTER HAVEN- Mrs. Edna Wadsworth was called to her heavenly home on April 11, 2012, due to natural causes. She called Haines City home from 1948 to 2005 and was currently living in Winter Haven. Edna was born in Wellsville, Ohio on January 2, 1920 to Charles and Myrtle Jarvis and followed her sister to Florida after graduating from Wellsville High School and business school. Her secretarial skills earned her praise at a commercial business in Tampa and later at MacDill Army Air Corps base where she accepted a job as the personal secretary to the commanding general of the 3rd Bomber Command.  >After World War II, Edna came to Haines City to work for Polk Canning Co. and met her future husband, John. They married on September 4, 1948 in Tampa, and called Haines City home for 57 years until John's passing in September 2005. Edna was the principal secretary and bookkeeper for the family business, John R. Wadsworth & Son House Moving for over 40 years and later an associate realtor with Town & Country Real Estate in Winter Haven for 16 years. She was a member of the Haines City Garden Club and Women's Club for many years and a founding member of the first Catholic church in Haines City, the Church of the Transfiguration, later renamed St. Ann's. She was a charter member of the Altar & Rosary Society and worked on the committee for the building of the current church. >Edna was the mother of Michael C. Wadsworth of Winter Haven and Kathleen Wadsworth Puckett (Phil) of Springfield, VA. She is also survived by six grandchildren: Michael's children Christi Wadsworth, Amber DiBaisie (Daniel), and Jennifer Wadsworth as well as Kathy's children Matthew, Jameson (fiancé Lindsey), and Sarah (fiancé Ben) Puckett. She was also a proud great-grandparent of Anthony and Gavin DiBaisie. >  In addition to her husband, John, she was predeceased by her infant daughter Janet Irene, as well as brothers DeWayne and Paul and sister Patty. A funeral Mass and Celebration of Life will be celebrated at St. Ann Catholic Church, Haines City, Monday April 16th, 2012 with gathering time one half hour before. Interment will follow immediately after the service at Forest Hill Cemetery. In lieu of flowers donations may be made to Good Shepherd Hospice, 105 Arneson Ave., Auburndale, FL or St. Ann Catholic Church Building Fund, Haines City. Condolences may be sent to oakridgefuneralcare.com . – Ledger, April 15, 2012

HAINES CITY -- Mr. John Richard Wadsworth, a former Haines City mayor and city commissioner, left college to take over his father's house moving business. The longtime Haines City resident died of heart failure Friday (Sept. 16, 2005) at Haines City Health Care. He was born Oct. 16, 1919, in Green Cove Springs, Mr. Wadsworth moved to Haines City from there in 1920. He was studying mechanical engineering at the University of Florida when his father became too ill to run the family business. >Mr. Wadsworth dropped out of school and stepped in. "I think he always regretted having to leave, but he knew going back to school was not an option," said his daughter, Kathleen W. Puckett of Springfield, Va. Under Mr. Wadsworth's stewardship, John R. Wadsworth and Son flourished. He prided himself on never having dropped a house during a move, a complicated process that often involved dismantling an entire house. Mr. Wadsworth saw to every detail. "He didn't sit in an office," his daughter said. "He was on the job supervising every day." For 50 years, Mr. Wadsworth ran the company, which remains in the family. During the late 1950s, Mr. Wadsworth was elected a Haines City commissioner and later served three years as mayor. In 1996, the city named him Pioneer of the Year, honoring him for his years as a business and civic leader. Mr. Wadsworth chaired the Florida Building Movers Conference of the Florida Trucking Association, and he was a member of the International Structural Movers Association. He attended First United Methodist Church in Haines City. > Mr. Wadsworth is survived by his wife, Edna R. Wadsworth; daughter, Kathleen W. Puckett, Springfield, Va.; son, Michael C. Wadsworth, Winter Haven; sister, Harriett Ragland, Atlanta; six grandchildren; one great-grandson. Visitation will be Tuesday at First United Methodist Church, Haines City. Services will follow at noon at the church. In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to Florida United Methodist Children's Home. Steele's Family Funeral Services, Winter Haven. – Ledger, Sept. 19, 2005 ( wife buried in Forest Hill Cemetery )