Mary Helen Peach, Overland Park
Former Chase County resident Mary Helen Cradit Peach, 82, died Sunday, Aug. 19, at the home of a daughter in Overland Park.
A memorial service is scheduled at 10 a.m. Thursday at the Flint Hills Community Church in Cottonwood Falls.
She was born April 8, 1925 in Tarkio, Mo., to Wilber Edward and Myrtle E. Cradit. Her family later moved to Clovercliff Ranch in Chase County, where her father worked as a ranch foreman. She spent her youth in Cottonwood Falls, graduating from Chase County Community High School.
After graduation, she joined the Army Nurses Corps during World War II and received her registered nursing training at St. Francis Hospital in Wichita. After the war, she worked as a nurse at Newman Hospital, St. Mary’s Hospital, the Lyon County Health Department and Emporia State University Health Center until her retirement in 1985.
In July 1947, she married Meredyth White of Emporia. They had five children. Later she married Noah “Shorty” Peach of Emporia. He died earlier.
Survivors include three daughters, Virginia King of Overland Park, Marlene Miltz of Americus and Carol Giger of Elmdale; one son, Wayne White of Prairie Village; 10 grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren, and one sister, Emma Jean Larsen of Springfield, Ohio.
She was also preceded in death by a son, Bruce White, a sister, Martha, and a brother, George.
Memorial contributions may be made to the Flint Hills Community Church, Cottonwood Falls, KS 66845 or to Odyssey Hospice, Holmes Corporate Centre II, 800 East 101 Terrace, Suite 150, Kansas City, MO 64131-5308.