Beatrice Bourquin Zinn McElhinny, 98, of Dunbar, died on Sunday, June 7, 2020.

She was born in Geneva, Iowa to the late William Raymond and Elizabeth Beatrice Hannah Bourquin on April 18, 1922.

She graduated from Geneva Consolidated High School and from the University of Northern Iowa in Cedar Falls, Iowa. She served as a WAVE during the second World War where she trained Navy seaman to fire 20mm and 30mm antiaircraft guns. Following honorable discharge from military service she was employed at what was then called a "Tearoom" at a department store in Chicago. In 1954 she came to South Charleston to manage a facility for a food service company for Union Carbide Corporation (UCC). She subsequently managed food facilities for the former United Fuel Gas Company and at UCC Tech Center and at Dupont. After she retired from the Macke Company she worked briefly in the Technical Support system at the Kanawha Public Library. Following the death of her first husband she was employed as a dietary supervisor at Arthur B. Hodges Nursing Home. She retired from there in 1994. In May of 1996 she and Lawrence McElhinny were married in the parlor of the First Presbyterian Church of South Charleston.

Bea was a member of the First Presbyterian Church of South Charleston and a member of the Circle of Hope and the Young at Heart group. She was a member of the South Charleston branch of the American Association of University Women and the former LaBelle Garden Club. She and her husband were Meals on Wheels volunteers for many years. Avocations included bird feeding and watching (especially blue birds), gardening, genealogy and sewing.

In addition to her parents she was preceded in death by her two husbands, Theodore "Ted" Zinn in 1986 and Lawrence "Mac" McElhinny in 2009; brother, Dean Bourquin and his wife Verna; stepson, Charles Zinn; and stepdaughter, Martha Hunt.

She is survived by her stepson, Carl Zinn of Hagerstown, MD; three of "Mac's" four daughters, Donna Brace of Inverness, FL, Sue Ellen Compton of Frederick, MD, Rise Bailey of Charleston; many grandchildren and great-grandchildren; nephew, Kenn Bourquin of Hampton, IA, Scott Bourquin of Jewell, IA; niece, Jolene Bourquin of Geneva, IA; two great nieces, "Liz" of Jewell, IA,Miriam Strahn of Maple Grove, MN; one great nephew, Daniel of Ellsworth, IA; and his three children.

A funeral service will be held at 1 p.m. on Friday, June 12, at Keller Funeral Home, Dunbar, with Rev. Sharon Gearing officiating. Entombment will follow in Tyler Mountain Memory Gardens, Cross Lanes.

Friends may visit one hour prior to the service at Keller Funeral Home, Dunbar.