Ina Agnes Williams Sixt, 99, of Washington, formerly of Springville, N.Y., completed her earthly journey to heaven Tuesday, October 31, 2017, in Washington County Health Center.

She was born April 10, 1918, in Ashford, N.Y., to the late Dora Fuller Ikens Williams and Clayton Freemont Williams. She was a lifelong resident of Springville until 2011, when she moved to Pennsylvania to be closer to family.

During the Great Depression, she was one of the first Buffalo Courier Express paper delivery girls in the area, winning a trip to the 1933-34 Chicago World's Fair for selling the most paper subscriptions. She worked hard, but she knew there was more to life than just work! Mrs. Sixt loved music, singing and dancing. She had many friends who played in local bands. She spoke often about going dancing down at Cascade Park Pavilion. Mrs. Sixt couldn't leave for the dance along with her friends because she had to finish delivering her daily newspaper routes, so she hopped the train from Springville to get there.

She was a Girl Scout, a kite flying champion, high school cheerleader and a graduate of Griffith Institute (GI) class of 1937. She married her high school sweetheart, John E. Sixt, in September 1938.

Mrs. Sixt was the first female student in a pilot driver's education class at GI. She loved to drive and did so over the years, traveling far and wide in the U.S.A., visiting family and friends. At one point, she was well known as "foster mama" on the CB radio.

One thing she learned early in life was the importance of having and keeping friends, many whom she kept as close friends far into their golden years. Mrs. Sixt and her long time friend, Virginia Winkey, owned and operated Speedy Laundromat for a period of time. Along with Virginia, she would often invite other friends, including Lois Hoch, Betty Allgrim, Grace Cranston, Alice Roth and many others to accompany her on her many travel adventures.

She was an avid Bingo player and garage sale expert (buying and selling). Mrs. Sixt was a member of Springville Volunteer Fire Company Ladies Auxiliary, local women's bowling league and publicity committee for the Town of Concord Sesquicentennial. She was a Brownie and Girl Scout leader and volunteer at St. Aloysius Church dinners and local school functions. Mrs. Sixt  loved to bake and was known as the "bread lady," sharing her famous apple pies and banana and fruit breads with those she loved.

She loved people of all ages, but most of all she adored babies and children. Hence, the reason she and John became foster parents. Over a period of 16 years, approximately 40 children were blessed to be under their loving care.

Mrs. Sixt spent a lot of time as a loving caregiver to many aging family members: her mom, Dora Ikens; her dad, Clayton Williams; and her husband John's grandmother, Grace Sixt and his aunt, Regina Morrison Ahles. As the years went by and she retired from being a foster mother, she had spent so much time as a caregiver, she became a nurse's aide at Chaffee Hospital and later became an in-home health care aide taking care of, as she put it, "her old people," who were often much younger than her.

In addition to her parents and husband, deceased are her children, Mary LuGarda Blasdell and John E. Sixt Jr.; her siblings, LeRay F. Williams, Elsie Mae Belz and Rheda Lois Miller; and son-in-law Richard W. Schohn.

She is survived by her children, Regina Schohn and Jonna (John) Murphy, both of Washington, Joseph Sixt of Statesville, N.C., and son-in-law Donald (Butch) Blasdell; 17 grandchildren, ranging in age from 55 to 7; 11 great-grandchildren; numerous nieces and nephews; foster children; and 13 god-children.

There will be no wake because she, with her charitable nature, donated her body to medical science through the PA Humanity Gifts Registry. Musmanno Funeral Home provides an obituary on behalf of the registry. There will be two Memorial Masses, one in Washington at 11 a.m. Saturday, November 11, in Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal Roman Catholic Church, Meadow Lands, and another in her home town of Springville at 10 a.m. Saturday, November 18,  in St. Aloysius R.C. Church. Celebration of Life luncheons will be held immediately following each Mass, in the lower level of the church and in Springville Moose Lodge 1249, respectively.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations be made to either Hickory Lions Club, specifying funds for "Leader Dogs for the Blind," care of Gary Farner, 114 Cherry Valley Road, McDonald, PA 15057, or to St. Aloysius Regional School, 186 Franklin Street, Springville, NY 14141-1112. Be sure to mark your donation "In Memory of Ina Sixt."

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