Miriam Louise (Schandler) Slipke was born in New Almelo, Kan., on July 13, 1929 and died on Dec. 26, 2019, in Hoxie. Miriam was the fourth of five children born to Joseph and Dolorose (Steichen) Schandler.
As a child Miriam was her father’s “right-hand man” on the farm helping with the milking, plowing, shucking corn, driving horses and sawing with a two-man saw. She often recounted memories of swimming in the Solomon River with her sisters and fun times at Coffin Rock.
After graduation from Mt. St. Scholastica, Atchison, Miriam took the train to Washington, D.C., where she was employed by Crane Co. A year and a half later she moved to Norton, where she worked in the Production & Marketing Admin. County office.
Miriam married Edwin Slipke on Sept. 26, 1950 and moved to a small home in the Lucerne area. Here she cultivated flower and produce gardens, tended fruit trees, raised chickens and maintained the house and yard while Edwin built up the farm and ranch operation.
Miriam would often say that she could not even boil water when she got married, but she became an accomplished cook, baker and seamstress. Miriam canned fruit, tomatoes, pickles, and butchered chickens and rendered lard. She recycled and repurposed long before it was popular. She was known for her thin, flaky pie crusts and homemade bread.
Children remember the aroma of freshly baked bread greeting them when they got home from school. It was an especially delightful moment when the children discovered that she had made donuts or maple bars!
The farmhouse was bursting at the seams, so in 1963 Edwin and Miriam built a home in New Almelo for their growing family. In 2004, as Edwin’s health declined, they moved to Hoxie where Miriam continued her quilting. She was an avid quilter having hand-quilted well over 100 quilts, most of which were given to charity.
Miriam was a devout and faithful member of St. Joseph’s Catholic Church in New Almelo and currently a member of St. Francis Cabrini Catholic Church in Hoxie. She was a former St Ann’s Sodality president, St. Joseph’s Catholic Church, New Almelo, president of the Vicariate, Salina Diocese and volunteered for many years at the Swap Shop in Hoxie.
She was preceded in death in 2006 by her husband Edwin, her parents, her sisters, Imogene Ninemire and Beatrice “Tucky” Hickert, infant sister, Jeanette, and infant brother, Urban.
She is survived by three daughters and five sons: Pamela (Dan) David, Pullman, Wash., Michael (Kathy) Slipke, Downs, Linda (Ron) Baumberger, Salina, Theresa (Ivan) Sarac, Woodbridge, Va., David Slipke, Bristol, Conn., Raymond (Bonita) Slipke, New Almelo, William (Michelle) Slipke, Hoxie, and Alan (Phyllis) Slipke, Netawaka; 20 grandchildren and 12 great-grandchildren.
A Mass of Christian Burial will be at 10 a.m. Friday, Jan. 3, 2020 at the St. Joseph Church in New Almelo. Burial will follow in St. Joseph Cemetery in New Almelo.
Visitation will be from 1 to 4 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 2, 2020 at the Mickey-Leopold Funeral Home, Hoxie and from 5 to 7 p.m. with family receiving friends from 5:30 to 7 p.m. at the St. Frances Cabrini Catholic Church, Hoxie.
Following visitation a vigil will be at 7 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 2, 2020, at the church.
In lieu of flowers, memorials may be given to masses, St. Francis Cabrini Grotto fund in Hoxie, St. Joseph’s Church in New Almelo, or the memorial of your choice. Memorials may be sent to Mickey-Leopold Funeral Home, PO Box 987, Hoxie, KS 67740.
Words of comfort may be left at www.mickeyleopoldfuneral.com.