Laura Mathilda Stibal, Emporia
1920 - 2007
A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated for Laura Mathilda Stibal at 10:30 a.m. Thursday at Sacred Heart Catholic Church. The Rev. Darren Henson is the celebrant.
A prayer service will be held at 6 p.m. today at the church, after which the family will meet friends.
Memorial contributions to the Willard and Laura Stibal Scholarship Fund at Emporia State University or Sacred Heart Catholic Church may be sent in care of the Roberts-Blue-Barnett Funeral Home, P.O. Box 175, Emporia, KS 66801.
Mrs. Stibal of Emporia and Emily, Minn., died Sunday, Sept. 30, 2007, at the Holiday Resort care center. She was 87.
She and her husband, Willard O. Stibal, and their children moved to Emporia in 1959. Mr. Stibal concluded his career in education at Emporia State University, retiring in 1983. Mrs. Stibal took care of their nine children. She also sold real estate and was a cashier at Newman Memorial Hospital. Earlier, she worked as a bookkeeper.
The daughter of August and Lucy Hingsburger Schwankl, she was born May 11, 1920, in St. Cloud, Minn., the fourth of nine children.
She married Willard O. Stibal on Dec. 29, 1941, in St. Cloud. They were married almost 66 years and spent the past 34 summers at their lake home in Emily. He survives.
Mrs. Stibal was a member of Sacred Heart Catholic Church and for 20 years was liturgy chairman for Sacred Heart Parish. For many years, she was director of Sacred Heart Church’s annual Fall Festival and a member of Newman Hospital’s auxiliary.
She also is survived by six daughters, Jackie Lutz of Emporia, Joan Carter of Newton, Margo Twaddle of Olathe, Cathy Vandegrift of Wichita, Judy Davis of Spring, Texas, and Trisha Lee of Littleton, Colo.; three sons, Tom Stibal of Kansas City, Kan., Mike Stibal of Wichita and John Stibal of Chicago; two sisters, Mary Goedert of Oceanside, Calif., and Lucile Kalkman of St. Cloud; four brothers, Chuck Schwankl of Overland Park, Joe Schwankl and Jim Schwankl, both of St. Cloud, and Art Schwankl of Anchorage; 17 grandchildren and 14 great-grandchildren.
Two sisters, Florence Kernes and Margaret Schwankl, died earlier.