The Press-Dispatch
Issue link: http://www.ifoldsflip.com/i/1176874
C-8 Obituaries Wednesday, October 16, 2019 The Press-Dispatch
STEVEN
GLENN MABREY
Steven Glenn Mabrey,
59, of Oakland City,
passed away on October
8, 2019.
He was born on May
1, 1960, in Evansville, to
Alves and Shelia Mabrey.
He lived his life for God,
and enjoyed hunting and
all types of sports, and
spending time with fami-
ly and friends.
He is survived by his
son, Tyler Mabrey, of Oak-
land City; sisters, Jennifer
(Kenny) Kline, of Jasper,
and Kim ( John) Plassmey-
er ( John) of South Caroli-
na; brothers, Trent (Kel-
ly) Mabrey, of Winslow,
and Brent (Pam) Mabrey,
of Ft. Branch; and eight
nieces and nephews.
He was preceded in
death by his father, Alves
Mabrey; and niece, Chris-
tie Kline.
Services were at 10 a.m.
Monday, October 14, 2019,
at Titzer Family Funeral
Homes in Elberfeld, with
Rev. Bill Reed officiating.
Burial will follow in Bar-
nett Chapel Cemetery.
Visitation will be from
2-6 p.m. Sunday and 9 a.m.
until service time Monday
at the funeral home. Con-
dolences may be made at
www.titzerfuneralhomes.
com.
Katiedid vs... by Katiedid Langrock
Fear tactics
"Ooh, a bride! Look, Ma-
ma! She's so beautiful."
I turned around to see
what my 3-year-old was
talking about. We were
shopping in Ross, so I ex-
pected that she was refer-
ring to a mannequin in a
gorgeous dress rather than
a real bride walking down
the aisle. That is, unless
she was completely lost — or
perhaps completely un-lost
and, having just run from
the altar, was shopping for
some clothes to change in-
to before skipping town and
changing her name.
I was wrong. Upon spin-
ning on my heels, I saw
that the beautiful bride my
daughter was gushing over
was not a mannequin or
a lost bride or a runaway
bride. Rather, it was a terri-
fying Halloween decoration
— a shrunken ancient-look-
ing floating warty witch
head surrounded by a sea
of dirtied fabric scraps that
looked more like mummy
dressing than they did for-
malwear. I, giving the prop-
er and intended reaction to
this morbid display, gave
a tiny jump backward. My
daughter stared up at the
wicked apparition, smitten.
"So beautiful," she repeat-
ed.
When do we become
scared? It hadn't occurred
to me until this very moment
that a gnarled floating head
adorned in unfurled band-
ages would be something
you must be
taught to feel
frightened
of, yet here
we are. They
come out of
the womb fear-
less, and we
parents, with
all our anxie-
ties and fears,
inform them,
often nonver-
bally, that the headless are
not to be trusted.
Last weekend, my 7-year-
old had a friend over. They
made up a story full of fake
creatures — a devil-gator,
a devil-dog, a devil-squir-
rel. They created this story
so convincingly that when a
cute little fluffy-tailed squir-
rel ran onto the driveway,
the boys screamed and ran
back into the house.
He is older. He is get-
ting his first October full
of songs about such things
as the Ghost of John. Long
white bones and the rest all
gone. He and his friend have
been taught what to fear —
songs, stories, their own im-
aginations.
It's easy to laugh at,
watching youngsters' im-
aginative brains resulting
in nightmare-addled nights
spent envisioning fanged
chipmunks. But then again,
don't we do that to our-
selves? Every time we sit
up in bed with alarm and
wonder what that
noise was, every
time we turn on
the lights in the
hallway just to
check, we, too,
are succumbing
to our own songs,
stories and imagi-
nations.
Ooh, wouldn't
it be chilly with
no skin on?
This week, I am headed
into the wild on a solo trip.
It's the first one I've taken
in three years. The most re-
cent trip lasted less than 24
hours. The time before that?
Oof. I couldn't say. Fifteen
years? A hundred years?
They seem an equal dis-
tance of time.
From my basement, I
pulled out my dusty old
trekker backpack, which is
covered in flag patches that
have seen better days. Bel-
gium and Israel are holding
on by barely a thread. I can-
not find my sleeping bag,
which just goes to show how
overdue this trip is. For fam-
ily camping trips, I've been
using a two-person sleep-
ing bag. It has allowed me
to nurse or cuddle babies
with ease during the long
nights. But this trip will be
just for me.
I used to be the type of per-
son who travels and camps
alone. Marriage and babies
have given me so much, but
one thing they do take away
is time. There's been no time
to be that person — to have
that independence, to have
that quiet.
As I packed my backpack, I
was suddenly clutched by fear.
What if a snake slithers into
my sleeping bag while I slum-
ber? I'll never see my children
again. What if a devil-gator
gets me? Or a devil-dog? Or,
worse, a devil-squirrel? Those
jerks are everywhere! These
were not things I worried
about 15 years ago. Nothing
teaches you fear like becom-
ing a parent.
When I was tucking in
my children last night, they
shared a spooky story about
a ghost in the woods wait-
ing to seize a woman and
make her his wife. My son
said earnestly, "Remember
when you're sleeping in the
wild, Mama, that you're al-
ready married." My daugh-
ter helpfully chimed in: "But
you can marry again. That
way, I can see you as a beau-
tiful bride, too."
I wonder whether fear,
not time, is what has actual-
ly kept me from taking so-
lo trips.
I asked my children to
stop telling me ghost stories
— and bride stories.
Like Katiedid Langrock on
Facebook, at http://www.face-
book.com/katiedidhumor.
Social Security Matters by by Russell Gloor
Understanding the family maximum
Dear Rusty: My husband
passed away when our chil-
dren were three and five
years old. I received bene-
fits for myself, our two chil-
dren and my 14-year-old son
from a previous relation-
ship. When my 14-year-old
son turned 18, the amount
he received stopped and
was added to ours, keeping
the total family amount the
same. Then in July of this
year my youngest daugh-
ter turned 16 so I fell off
with that amount now go-
ing to my kids. Again, the
total family amount stayed
the same— $ 625, each for
my daughter and son. The
very next month in August,
my youngest son turned 18
so of course, he fell off. I
called Social Security and
the representative said that
she couldn't guarantee that
my son's full amount will go
to my daughter. It turns out
that none did, decreasing
the family amount by $ 625.
My question is why was
the family amount reduced
when she still has two years
before she turns 18? Signed:
Confused Survivor
Dear Confused: I un-
derstand your confusion—
let me clarify what happened
in your situation: Social Se-
curity (SS) sets a "Family
Maximum" amount, which
is the most all eligible family
members combined can re-
ceive from a worker's (your
husband's) record. SS uses
a rather complex formula to
compute the Family Maxi-
mum amount, but it comes
out to be somewhere be-
tween 150 percent and 180
percent of your husband's
"primary insurance amount"
(or "PIA," what he was enti-
tled to when he passed). The
family maximum is in effect
whenever there are multiple
beneficiaries on a worker's
record.
The bene-
fits you were
personally re-
ceiving were
"child in care"
benefits which
entitled you,
as a surviving
spouse with a
minor child,
to collect 75 percent of the
benefit your husband was
receiving, or entitled to re-
ceive, at his death. Child in
care benefits stop when the
youngest child reaches 16
years of age. Each of your
three minor children were
also entitled to receive 75
percent of their deceased fa-
ther's (or stepfather's) ben-
efit amount. Minor children
can receive 75 percent of
the deceased parent's bene-
fit until they reach 18 years
of age (or 19 if still in high
school). However, all bene-
fits are subject to the "fam-
ily maximum." The total of
benefits paid to all survivors
of the deceased is limited to
that family maximum and,
if that amount is reached,
all eligible survivors share
equally in that
family maximum
amount. Then as
each survivor be-
comes ineligible
due to their age,
the remaining
survivors each
receive a propor-
tional share of
the family max-
imum amount, but that ad-
justment cannot result in an
individual's benefit being
more than they are other-
wise entitled to (their max-
imum individual benefit of
75 percent of your husband's
PIA).
When your oldest son
turned 18 and became inel-
igible, the sum of benefits
due all remaining survivors
was still more than the fam-
ily maximum, so the fam-
ily maximum amount was
equally divided among the
remaining eligible survi-
vors. Then, when your el-
igibility for child-in-care
benefits ceased when your
youngest turned 16, your
two remaining minor chil-
dren each received either
a) their equal share of the
family maximum, or b) 75
percent of their father's PIA
(their normal entitlement
as a surviving minor child).
When your youngest son
turned 18 and became ineli-
gible, your youngest daugh-
ter was then eligible to re-
ceive only her full benefit
as a minor surviving child
(75 percent of your hus-
band's benefit), which she
can continue to receive un-
til she is 18 (or 19 if still in
high school). So, as you can
see, the family maximum
isn't an amount which is ful-
ly available to any survivor,
it is an amount that restricts
the total amount which can
be paid to all when there are
multiple eligible survivors.
Note that at age 60 you are
once again eligible for a sur-
viving spouse benefit, which
will be based upon 100 per-
cent of the benefit your hus-
band was entitled to at his
death, subject, of course, to
normal reductions and earn-
ings restrictions for claim-
ing benefits before your full
retirement age.
JOAN HAMM
Joan Hamm, 78, of Jasper,
passed away at 9:54 a.m. on
Monday, October 14, 2019,
in Memorial Hospital and
Health Care Center in Jas-
per.
She was born in Peters-
burg on October 23, 1940,
to Frank and Naomi (Smith)
Furman. She married Dale
W. Hamm on December 28,
1956, in Shawneetown, Ill.
He preceded her in death
on February 17, 2019.
She was a 1958 graduate
of Petersburg High School.
She retired from Kimball
Electronics in Jasper, where
she had worked for 43 years.
She loved flowers, enjoyed
bowling, playing cards, rid-
ing motorcycles, and spend-
ing time with family and
friends. She truly adored
her Pomeranian, Christi
Eve, and she was also an av-
id Chicago Cubs fan.
Surviving are one son,
Robert (Geri Loechte)
Hamm, of Jasper; two grand-
children, Courtney (Bill Per-
ry) Hamm, of Middlesex,
N.C., and Derek (Michaela
Campbell) Hamm, of Flint,
Texas; and five great-grand-
children, Nolan, Rozlyn,
Reagan, Gracie and Landon.
Preceding her in death,
besides her husband, are
three sisters, June Chesser,
Patricia Charles and Jerry
Lynn Lewis.
A funeral service will be
at 11 a.m. on Friday, Octo-
Obituaries
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