Aletha E. Bellinger, age 84 of Mt. Pleasant, passed away on Wednesday morning, March 4, 2009 at Central Michigan Comunity Hospital as the result of a long term blood disorder. Aletha was born on Saturday, November 1, 1924 in Isabella County, Michigan, the daughter of Bond and Mabel Young Marshall.

Funeral services for Aletha were held on Saturday, March 7, 2009 at 11:00 a.m. at the Strickland Baptist Church in rural Mt. Pleasant with Paster Lindo Koop officiating. Interment followed the service at Green Cemetery in Lincoln Township beside her husband and son. The family greeted friends at the Helms Funeral Home in Mt. Pleasant on Thursday, March 5, from 6 to 8 pm and on Friday, March 6, from 2 to 4 and 6 to 8 pm and on Saturday one hour prior to the funeral service at the church. Memorial contributions in Aletha's memory were suggested by the family to Woodland Hospice or the American Red Cross Blood Drives.

In November of 1943, Aletha and Fremont Bellinger were married at the Strickland Baptist Church. She was a lifetime member of the area and worked in the Food Service Area at Central Michigan University for many years. Aletha was a member of the Strickland Baptist Church, and a long time volunteer at Central Michigan Community Hospital, where she also donated small pillows she sewed for the hospital. She had great pride in her grandchildren, loved her garding and birds, and gave assistance to her many friends when they needed it. She loved to travel with her husband and learned how to fly an airplane she could land it if something happened to him when they were flying together. Aletha always had a smile for everyone she came in contact with. She had a great love for her farm and the conservancy of nature.

Aletha is survived by her two sons, Lynn Bellinger of Shepherd and Jim Bellinger of San Marcos, CA; six grandchildren; nine great grandchildren; five brothers and their spouses, Bruce and Sandy Marshall, George and Nita Marshall, Maurice and Edith Marshall, Frank and Shirley Marshall, and Lawrence and Nancy Marshall; and two sisters, Genevieve Swindlehurst and Viginia and John Lane. She was proceeded in death by her parents; her husband in 2001; a son, Cary in 1997; three sisters, Marjorie Marshall, Wanda Webb, and Mary Harris; and three brothers, John Dean, and Orrin Marshall.