The obituraries for September 29, 2006
By The Emporia Gazette (Contact)
Thursday, September 28, 2006
Frances June Chester
EUREKA
Frances June “Pat” Francis Chester of Eureka died Sunday, Sept. 24, 2006. She was 74.
She was a bookkeeper for the Greenwood County Treasurer’s Office for 11 years, and, earlier, was bookkeeper and office manager for Francis Plumbing for many years.
The daughter of Byron W. and Mary F. Wyse Lopp, she was born June 1, 1932, at Yates Center. She moved to Eureka when she was a small child and graduated from Eureka High School in 1950. She attended cosmetology school in Wichita and later attended Butler County Community College, where she studied accounting.
She married Richard Obe Francis on Sept. 25, 1951. They were later divorced. She married William E. Chester on July 20, 1979. Both died earlier.
Mrs. Chester was a member of the First United Methodist Church of Eureka.
She is survived by three sons, James L. Francis of Emporia, Joseph R. Francis of Kansas City and William P. Francis; one daughter, Nancy L. Francis Harris of Emporia; one sister, M. Kathleen Straight of Wichita; one brother, Anthony K. Straight of California; and one grandson.
The memorial service will be at 10 a.m. Saturday in the Koup Family Funeral Home at Eureka. The Rev. Mike Brazzle of the First Baptist Church of Madison will conduct the service. Mrs. Chester was cremated. Inurnment will be in Greenwood Cemetery.
Memorial contributions to the Alzheimer’s Association may be sent in care of the funeral home, P.O. Box 595, Eureka, KS 67045.
Wesley Seymour Rice
WICHITA
Wesley “Wes” Seymour Rice died Tuesday, Sept. 26, 2006, at his home in Wichita. He was 74. Survivors in this area include a daughter, Janice Sue Brown of Emporia.
Mr. Rice retired from the Wichita Fire Department in 1977 after 21 years of service. He also worked for Perkins Fire Pro for 15 years in Little Rock, Ark.
The funeral will be at 10:30 a.m. Saturday in Cochran Mortuary at Wichita. Burial will be in Greenwood Cemetery at Wichita.
Memorial contributions may be sent to the Firefighter’s Museum, 1300 S. Broadway, Wichita, KS 67211.
Messages to the family may be left at www.cochranmortuary.com.
Byron Wayne Whitaker
THAYER, MO.
Former Hartford resident Byron Wayne Whitaker died Saturday, Sept. 23, 2006, at a nursing home in West Plains, Mo. He was 76. He was recently dismissed from a hospital in West Plains and had been battling lung cancer.
Mr. Whitaker farmed many years on the family farm west of Hartford. He was in the cattle business and was tending his son’s cattle at Thayer, Mo.
The son of Guy and Ruth Stuttle Whitaker, he was born June 27, 1930, in Lyon County. He graduated from Hartford High School in 1948. He married Lois Walliser on July 18, 1950, in Emporia. They were divorced in 1974.
Mr. Whitaker is survived by one daughter, Janet DeLong of Manhattan; two sons, Stanley Whitaker of Chocorua, N.H. and Dale Whitaker of Geiger, Ala.; and nine grandchildren. A brother, Darrell Edward; and a sister, Mildred O’Brian, died earlier.
The funeral will be at 10:30 a.m. Friday in the Carter Funeral Home at Thayer, Mo. Burial will be in Thayer, Mo. The family will meet friends at 9 a.m. Friday at the funeral home.
Tressa Carleen Strawderman Finley
LAWRENCE
Tressa Carleen Strawderman Finley
The family suggests that, instead of flowers, memorial contributions be made to the Tressa Finley-Bowers Memorial Fund, for Mrs. Finley’s three daughters who survive, and sent in care of the Warren-McElwain Mortuary, 120 W. 13th St., Lawrence, KS 66044-3402.
Messages to the family may be left at www.warrenmcelwain.com.
Mrs. Finley’s obituary was published Tuesday.
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