Curtis Jay Schmidt, age 45, of Hays, Kansas, passed away Thursday, June 16, 2022, in Hays. He was born March 15, 1977, in Hays to Timothy and Esther (Burgardt) Schmidt. Curtis graduated from TMP-Marian High School in 1995 and obtained a MS from Fort Hays State University. On October 4, 2003, he married Amanda VanCampen in Victoria. Curtis was the Zoological Collections Manager at Sternberg Museum of Natural History in Hays. He was also an Adjunct Faculty Instructor at Fort Hays State University and Environmental Scientist at JTC Enterprises. He was a member of the Optimist Club of Hays currently serving as president, a member of the Kansas Herpetological Society having served as a past president and a member of St. Joseph’s Catholic Church in Hays. Curtis truly loved his work and sharing his knowledge with others. His passion for the natural world came through with the enthusiasm he brought to teaching others, especially about reptiles, small mammals, and nature conservation.&nbsp; Being with animals and nature brought him great joy. He enjoyed caring for his animals and pets, walking his dogs, and he was often heard saying he was “Going Herping.” True to Curtis’s compassion and love for life through his passing he saved and enhanced numerous lives through organ, eye and tissue donation. Curtis is survived by his Wife, Amanda; daughter, Avery; step son, Jonathan VanCampen all of the home in Hays; his father, Timothy Schmidt of Hays; his sister, Leslie Karlin and husband David of Hays as well as numerous nieces and nephews. He was preceded in death by his mother, Esther and sister, Tammie; and a brother-in-law, Ted VanCampen. Live Streaming of services will be available through the funeral home website.&nbsp;<a href="http://www.keithleyfuneralchapels.com/">www.keithleyfuneralchapels.com</a>&nbsp;then select Facebook Live. Funeral services are 10:30 AM Wednesday, June 22, 2022, at St. Joseph's Catholic Church 215 W. 13th Hays, Kansas. Memorial visitation will be Tuesday 6 PM - 8 PM with a combined parish vigil and rosary service at 7 PM all at Brock's-Keithley Funeral Chapel and Crematory, 2509 Vine, Hays, KS 67601. Memorial contributions made payable to the Avery Schmidt Education Fund may be sent in care of Keithley Funeral Homes, PO Box 86, Hays, KS 67601. Condolences may be left by guest book at&nbsp;<a href="http://www.keithleyfuneralchapels.com/">www.keithleyfuneralchapels.com</a>&nbsp;or by email at&nbsp;<a href="mailto:keithleyfuneralhomes@gmail.com">keithleyfuneralhomes@gmail.com</a>

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2022/6/1655744098334.png" alt="" />
 <figcaption></figcaption>
 </figure>Curtis Jay Schmidt, age 45, of Hays, Kansas, passed away Thursday, June 16, 2022, in Hays. He was born March 15, 1977, in Hays to Timothy and Esther (Burgardt) Schmidt. Curtis graduated from TMP-Marian High School in 1995 and obtained a MS from Fort Hays State University. On October 4, 2003, he married Amanda VanCampen in Victoria. Curtis was the Zoological Collections Manager at Sternberg Museum of Natural History in Hays. He was also an Adjunct Faculty Instructor at Fort Hays State University and Environmental Scientist at JTC Enterprises. He was a member of the Optimist Club of Hays currently serving as president, a member of the Kansas Herpetological Society having served as a past president and a member of St. Joseph’s Catholic Church in Hays. Curtis truly loved his work and sharing his knowledge with others. His passion for the natural world came through with the enthusiasm he brought to teaching others, especially about reptiles, small mammals, and nature conservation.&nbsp; Being with animals and nature brought him great joy. He enjoyed caring for his animals and pets, walking his dogs, and he was often heard saying he was “Going Herping.” True to Curtis’s compassion and love for life through his passing he saved and enhanced numerous lives through organ, eye and tissue donation. Curtis is survived by his Wife, Amanda; daughter, Avery; step son, Jonathan VanCampen all of the home in Hays; his father, Timothy Schmidt of Hays; his sister, Leslie Karlin and husband David of Hays as well as numerous nieces and nephews. He was preceded in death by his mother, Esther and sister, Tammie; and a brother-in-law, Ted VanCampen. Live Streaming of services will be available through the funeral home website.&nbsp;<a href="http://www.keithleyfuneralchapels.com/">www.keithleyfuneralchapels.com</a>&nbsp;then select Facebook Live. Funeral services are 10:30 AM Wednesday, June 22, 2022, at St. Joseph's Catholic Church 215 W. 13th Hays, Kansas. Memorial visitation will be Tuesday 6 PM - 8 PM with a combined parish vigil and rosary service at 7 PM all at Brock's-Keithley Funeral Chapel and Crematory, 2509 Vine, Hays, KS 67601. Memorial contributions made payable to the Avery Schmidt Education Fund may be sent in care of Keithley Funeral Homes, PO Box 86, Hays, KS 67601. Condolences may be left by guest book at&nbsp;<a href="http://www.keithleyfuneralchapels.com/">www.keithleyfuneralchapels.com</a>&nbsp;or by email at&nbsp;<a href="mailto:keithleyfuneralhomes@gmail.com">keithleyfuneralhomes@gmail.com</a>

Curtis Jay Schmidt

NEW YORK (AP) — Retailers and marketers have been quick to commemorate Juneteenth with an avalanche of merchandise from ice cream to T-shirts to party cups.

But many are getting backlash on social media for what critics say undermines the day,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/juneteenth-congress-federal-holiday-3cc3b7a56ec97b0bae3dbdff1da092ee">designated as a federal holiday last year</a>&nbsp;to honor the emancipation of enslaved African Americans. A search for Juneteenth items among online sellers like Amazon and J.C. Penney produced everything from toothpicks with pan-African flags to party plates and balloons.

Walmart, the nation’s largest retailer, apologized last month after getting slammed for a Juneteenth ice cream flavor — swirled red velvet and cheesecake — under its store label Great Value. Walmart said it’s reviewing its product assortment and will remove items “as appropriate.” As of Friday, Walmart’s site was still offering lots of T-shirts and party plates.

Meanwhile, the Indianapolis Children’s Museum removed a Juneteenth watermelon salad from its menu and issued a mea culpa earlier this week. In a statement posted on its Facebook page, the museum blamed a lapse in vendor oversight, noting the label and salad were not reviewed by museum staff.

“We are an imperfect institution, but we are committed to improvement and will work tirelessly to regain your trust,” the museum wrote on its Facebook page.

The backlash comes as&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/media-business-lifestyle-race-and-ethnicity-death-of-george-floyd-ec48d239cd93b8d07a9fc13d62ba7364">companies promised after the police killing of George Floyd in May of 2020 to no longer stay silent</a>&nbsp;and vowed to take&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/whole-foods-market-inc-race-and-ethnicity-beyonce-knowles-corporate-giving-coronavirus-pandemic-65357480c89de284c6f0feb2f4b62587">an active role</a>&nbsp;in confronting and educating customers and employees on systemic racism. According to the preliminary results of a survey by Mercer of 200 employers, 33% are offering Juneteenth as a paid holiday to their staff. That’s up from 9% last year in a survey of more than 400 companies conducted shortly before Juneteenth was declared a federal holiday.

At the same time, many have cashed in on a holiday that Black Americans have observed since June 19, 1865, when Union Major General Gordon Granger proclaimed freedom for enslaved people in Galveston, Texas, in alignment with President Abraham Lincoln’s 1863 Emancipation Proclamation.

Many experts believe that if retailers and other marketers plan to recognize the day, they should either sell merchandise from Black-owned businesses or invest in campaigns that would help Black communities. Amazon. for instance, does have a Black-owned business storefront that’s live all year-round for customers who want to support and shop Black-owned businesses selling on the site.

“This is a serious and reflective moment — I am excited and grateful for the recognition,” said Ramon Manning, chairman of the board at Emancipation Park Conservancy, a nonprofit organization aimed to restore the park, which was purchased in 1872 by a group of former enslaved people to commemorate the anniversary of their emancipation.

“However, I feel like it is also brought back everybody else out of the woodwork who are opportunists more so than folks who are looking at the history of this country and looking at where a group of people have come from,” he added.

Manning, who is also founder and chairman of Ridgegate Capital, a private investment fund, further wondered: “Who is this going to benefit?”

Sheryl Daija, founder and CEO of Bridge, a group of marketing and diversity, equity and inclusion executives, noted there’s a disconnect between the seriousness of the holiday and the merchandise on display.

“A lot of companies have good intentions, but unfortunately good intentions can go awry, and this is what we have seen,” said Daija, who found Walmart’s Juneteenth ice cream particularly egregious because it used the holiday moniker to brand a new ice cream flavor.

Companies have a long history of commercializing holidays and other moments in order to cash in. Take&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/12a7bd7d472a4037a984b04fae278107">Cinco de Mayo</a>, which has become in the U.S a celebration of all things Mexican, with companies selling everything from beans to beer to sombrero hats. The holiday has spread from the American Southwest, even though most have no idea about its original ties to the U.S. Civil War, abolition and promotion of civil rights for Blacks. In fact, it’s often mistaken for Mexican Independence day.

Meanwhile, every October, retailers are awash in pink merchandise to celebrate Breast Cancer Awareness month, but critics say many make misleading claims about supporting cancer groups. And Memorial Day, a federal holiday day designated to mourn the U.S. military who have died while serving in the U.S. armed forces, has morphed into all-day mattress sales at stores.

But what makes the move by companies to cash in on Juneteenth worse is that it comes as the U.S. remains fraught with racial tensions, said Darnise Martin, clinical associate professor of African American studies at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles.

“It is weird to merchandise around it, but that’s what America does,” Martin said.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2021/6/1624012350734.png" alt="" />
 <figcaption></figcaption>
 </figure>NEW YORK (AP) — Retailers and marketers have been quick to commemorate Juneteenth with an avalanche of merchandise from ice cream to T-shirts to party cups.But many are getting backlash on social media for what critics say undermines the day,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/juneteenth-congress-federal-holiday-3cc3b7a56ec97b0bae3dbdff1da092ee">designated as a federal holiday last year</a>&nbsp;to honor the emancipation of enslaved African Americans. A search for Juneteenth items among online sellers like Amazon and J.C. Penney produced everything from toothpicks with pan-African flags to party plates and balloons.Walmart, the nation’s largest retailer, apologized last month after getting slammed for a Juneteenth ice cream flavor — swirled red velvet and cheesecake — under its store label Great Value. Walmart said it’s reviewing its product assortment and will remove items “as appropriate.” As of Friday, Walmart’s site was still offering lots of T-shirts and party plates.<div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet">Please take a moment to read this important letter from The Children’s Museum. <a href="https://t.co/vMhnBSuGgK">pic.twitter.com/vMhnBSuGgK</a>&mdash; The Children&#39;s Museum (@TCMIndy) <a href="https://twitter.com/TCMIndy/status/1536679876589150209?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 14, 2022</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div>Meanwhile, the Indianapolis Children’s Museum removed a Juneteenth watermelon salad from its menu and issued a mea culpa earlier this week. In a statement posted on its Facebook page, the museum blamed a lapse in vendor oversight, noting the label and salad were not reviewed by museum staff.“We are an imperfect institution, but we are committed to improvement and will work tirelessly to regain your trust,” the museum wrote on its Facebook page.The backlash comes as&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/media-business-lifestyle-race-and-ethnicity-death-of-george-floyd-ec48d239cd93b8d07a9fc13d62ba7364">companies promised after the police killing of George Floyd in May of 2020 to no longer stay silent</a>&nbsp;and vowed to take&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/whole-foods-market-inc-race-and-ethnicity-beyonce-knowles-corporate-giving-coronavirus-pandemic-65357480c89de284c6f0feb2f4b62587">an active role</a>&nbsp;in confronting and educating customers and employees on systemic racism. According to the preliminary results of a survey by Mercer of 200 employers, 33% are offering Juneteenth as a paid holiday to their staff. That’s up from 9% last year in a survey of more than 400 companies conducted shortly before Juneteenth was declared a federal holiday.At the same time, many have cashed in on a holiday that Black Americans have observed since June 19, 1865, when Union Major General Gordon Granger proclaimed freedom for enslaved people in Galveston, Texas, in alignment with President Abraham Lincoln’s 1863 Emancipation Proclamation.Many experts believe that if retailers and other marketers plan to recognize the day, they should either sell merchandise from Black-owned businesses or invest in campaigns that would help Black communities. Amazon. for instance, does have a Black-owned business storefront that’s live all year-round for customers who want to support and shop Black-owned businesses selling on the site.“This is a serious and reflective moment — I am excited and grateful for the recognition,” said Ramon Manning, chairman of the board at Emancipation Park Conservancy, a nonprofit organization aimed to restore the park, which was purchased in 1872 by a group of former enslaved people to commemorate the anniversary of their emancipation.“However, I feel like it is also brought back everybody else out of the woodwork who are opportunists more so than folks who are looking at the history of this country and looking at where a group of people have come from,” he added.Manning, who is also founder and chairman of Ridgegate Capital, a private investment fund, further wondered: “Who is this going to benefit?”Sheryl Daija, founder and CEO of Bridge, a group of marketing and diversity, equity and inclusion executives, noted there’s a disconnect between the seriousness of the holiday and the merchandise on display.“A lot of companies have good intentions, but unfortunately good intentions can go awry, and this is what we have seen,” said Daija, who found Walmart’s Juneteenth ice cream particularly egregious because it used the holiday moniker to brand a new ice cream flavor.Companies have a long history of commercializing holidays and other moments in order to cash in. Take&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/12a7bd7d472a4037a984b04fae278107">Cinco de Mayo</a>, which has become in the U.S a celebration of all things Mexican, with companies selling everything from beans to beer to sombrero hats. The holiday has spread from the American Southwest, even though most have no idea about its original ties to the U.S. Civil War, abolition and promotion of civil rights for Blacks. In fact, it’s often mistaken for Mexican Independence day.Meanwhile, every October, retailers are awash in pink merchandise to celebrate Breast Cancer Awareness month, but critics say many make misleading claims about supporting cancer groups. And Memorial Day, a federal holiday day designated to mourn the U.S. military who have died while serving in the U.S. armed forces, has morphed into all-day mattress sales at stores.But what makes the move by companies to cash in on Juneteenth worse is that it comes as the U.S. remains fraught with racial tensions, said Darnise Martin, clinical associate professor of African American studies at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles.“It is weird to merchandise around it, but that’s what America does,” Martin said.

Some retailers face social media backlash over Juneteenth marketing 

Kenneth Dean “Kenny” Schwindt – LEOTI, KS – The man. The myth. The legend.&nbsp;

Ken
 died on May 11, 2022, at the age of 81 ½ years. Born October 22, 1940, 
in Scott City, KS to Clifford Leslie Schwindt and Lillie May Smith, he 
loved flying, telling jokes (and he remembered EVERY joke he ever 
heard!), hosting Rocky Mountain oyster fries, raising hogs, figuring out
 puzzles and brain stumpers and Dr. Pepper. Not necessarily in that 
order.&nbsp; He hated hypocrites, snakes, and a job poorly done. Not 
necessarily in that order.&nbsp; 

Ken
 was great at, well, just about everything. He was a master craftsman 
who single-handedly built a tilt trailer in high school shop class long 
before this type of trailer was even on anyone’s radar. A skilled and 
self-taught mechanic, he could make any motor purr once again, 
regardless of why it now didn’t run and not charge an arm and a leg or 
the first-born child. But make no mistake, Ken loved kids. Teaching was 
truly his gift and he made a game out of learning. He probably taught 
hundreds of little ones how to tie their shoelaces over the years.&nbsp; 
Actually, you learned from Ken whether you wanted to or not. A seasoned 
carpenter, Ken turned the shattered remnants of a tornado-hit singlewide
 into he and wife Sue’s first family home. &nbsp;He was great at farming, 
growing a garden, making everyone feel welcome, and figuring out an 
easier way to get a job done. He made things work FOR him including 
things like weather and gravity. He figured out how to harness leverage –
 accomplishing an amazing amount of work by himself. When it came to 
grilling Rocky Mountain oysters, he cornered the market in western 
Kansas. He loved hosting this event (much to his wife’s chagrin who was 
often left with the kitchen to clean up). 

Ken
 loved to tell stories (most of them true) but was especially good at 
telling jokes and he was good at it…really, REALLY good at it…a perfect 
delivery every…single….time! 

What
 Ken loved most was flying (second of course to his wife and family).&nbsp; 
During his flight exam, the Captain, so impressed with Ken’s knowledge 
and judgment, offered him a pilot’s job with Continental Airlines simply
 because Ken refused the final taxi until the Captain had closed and 
locked his window.&nbsp; According to the Captain, most guys failed right 
there! But Ken declined, choosing instead to remain on the family farm 
in northeastern Wichita County where he’d invested so much of himself 
over the years. This love of flying was never far from his heart 
however. Not long after, he signed on as a private pilot chauffeuring 
his favorite Uncle Hallie about as he built the High Plains Feedlot 
north of Leoti. But that wasn’t the end of his flying years. Ken knew no
 fear and was ecstatic when asked to join in the Weather Mod cloud 
seeding project.&nbsp; Each time the storm clouds appears, he’d wait 
anxiously for that phone call asking him to load up and fly on the 
leading edge of the thunderstorm to encourage rain and dissipate hail. 
When asked if it was dangerous, he would smile and say, “No, the guys on
 the ground have our back” but then offered no explanation of the hail 
dents on the plane??!! Hmmm, perhaps a little too close to the action?? 
He’d never tell.

Ken’s
 energy knew no bounds, even at an early age. He attended elementary 
school at&nbsp;Pleasant Valley (where the old schoolhouse still stands), 
Lydia and R.B. Stewart. His day started at 4:30 am milking&nbsp;30 plus&nbsp;dairy
 cows, then he’d drive his sister and brother to country school, and 
finally head to town to start his own day at school. Ken was so 
dedicated to the success of the family farm that he literally “raised 
and sold the bacon” to help generate extra income to sustain the family 
farm. But what was learned on the farm didn’t always stay on the farm. 
Ken had an incredible memory and would often take all he’d learned and 
parlay into various small businesses and side gigs. 

Jack of All Trades….Master of Darned Near Every Single One of Them too!

The
 list of all Ken did is impressive: he farmed, ranched, drove truck and 
custom harvested, and ran a trenching and excavating business laying 
miles and miles of water line in the remote Kansas wilderness. He 
mastered butchering and sausage-making long before it was the new 
homesteading-prepper trend. Self-taught master plumber, electrician, 
carpenter and mechanic, he’d even diagnose problems over the phone!&nbsp; He 
made the best popcorn and potato donuts this side of outer space. 
Seriously, what couldn’t he do? Well, he couldn’t stay single and in 
1964 Linda Sue Burkart nabbed him or maybe….just maybe…he talked her 
into marriage? After all, Ken could indeed “sell ice to an Eskimo.” 

But
 the favored story begins like this: Ken was a Sunday School teacher and
 a youth group sponsor at the Assembly of God church where the entire 
family was baptized together. Ken believed God was responsible for an 
encounter he had with a rattlesnake (one of literally hundreds he’s 
slain over his lifetime) while farming in the Lamar, CO area. The area 
was full of abandoned cisterns and rattlesnakes and at least 30 minutes 
from civilization. The rattlesnakes were so bad that it wasn’t even safe
 to walk from the pickup to the tractor. The safest entrance in and out 
of the tractor was crawling through an open window from the bed of the 
pickup, feet never touching the ground. Early one fall morning, Ken 
drove up to the tractor, decided to open the pickup door, and get out, 
thinking the cool, brisk morning had surely stalled the slithers. He 
took his first step and as he lifted his foot for the second, he heard a
 strange noise that sort of sounded like a rattle. He looked back and 
realized that his first step had been planted squarely on the head of a 
rattler and that the twist in his step had dislocated the snake’s jaw, 
preventing what would have been a deadly bite. Truly God had protected 
him exactly as his wife had prayed every morning: “He that dwelleth 
in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the
 Almighty.....Thou shall tread on the lion and the adder, the young lion
 and adder shall thou trample underfoot .” (Psalm 91: 1 &amp; 12) Whew! God’s Protection!!

Ever
 compassionate and kind (well, not to rattlesnakes), Ken never&nbsp;met a 
stranger. He truly loved visiting with everyone. Generous to a fault and
 always glad to help, no strings attached, he believed the best in 
people. He always went out of his way when he discovered someone 
in&nbsp;sincere need, and even if it took extra effort on&nbsp;his&nbsp;part, he made 
sure they felt like they were earning their way rather than being given a
 mere handout.

When
 Ken boarded the plane for his last and final flight, he left his wife, 
Linda Sue (Burkart) Schwindt of the home, eldest daughter Kendra (David 
Kennelly) Schwindt of Marienthal, KS, youngest daughter Lynda (Allen) 
Brockmeier of Hays, KS, grand-daughter Dr. Megan Swope of Beaverton, OR,
 sister Lois Tucker of Wellington, CO, sister Norma (Bob) Marsh of 
Phoenix, AZ, and numerous nieces and nephews who all know how to tie 
their shoes. &nbsp;

Join the family along with Rev. Paul NcNall and Rev. Tod &nbsp;Anthony on Saturday, June 25th, 2022, at 2:00 PM at the United Methodist Church in Leoti, KS to wish Ken safe travels. 

Ever
 appreciative of their service, the Leoti EMS in care of Price &amp; 
Sons is deserving of memorials in lieu of flowers in Ken’s name. Please 
make checks to the Leoti EMS and mail to Price and Sons Funeral Home, PO
 Box 161, Leoti, KS 67861. Obituary Guest Book/Tribute Wall at 
www.PriceandSons.com

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2022/6/1655496847107.png" alt="" />
 <figcaption></figcaption>
 </figure>Kenneth Dean “Kenny” Schwindt – LEOTI, KS – The man. The myth. The legend.&nbsp; Ken
 died on May 11, 2022, at the age of 81 ½ years. Born October 22, 1940, 
in Scott City, KS to Clifford Leslie Schwindt and Lillie May Smith, he 
loved flying, telling jokes (and he remembered EVERY joke he ever 
heard!), hosting Rocky Mountain oyster fries, raising hogs, figuring out
 puzzles and brain stumpers and Dr. Pepper. Not necessarily in that 
order.&nbsp; He hated hypocrites, snakes, and a job poorly done. Not 
necessarily in that order.&nbsp; Ken
 was great at, well, just about everything. He was a master craftsman 
who single-handedly built a tilt trailer in high school shop class long 
before this type of trailer was even on anyone’s radar. A skilled and 
self-taught mechanic, he could make any motor purr once again, 
regardless of why it now didn’t run and not charge an arm and a leg or 
the first-born child. But make no mistake, Ken loved kids. Teaching was 
truly his gift and he made a game out of learning. He probably taught 
hundreds of little ones how to tie their shoelaces over the years.&nbsp; 
Actually, you learned from Ken whether you wanted to or not. A seasoned 
carpenter, Ken turned the shattered remnants of a tornado-hit singlewide
 into he and wife Sue’s first family home. &nbsp;He was great at farming, 
growing a garden, making everyone feel welcome, and figuring out an 
easier way to get a job done. He made things work FOR him including 
things like weather and gravity. He figured out how to harness leverage –
 accomplishing an amazing amount of work by himself. When it came to 
grilling Rocky Mountain oysters, he cornered the market in western 
Kansas. He loved hosting this event (much to his wife’s chagrin who was 
often left with the kitchen to clean up). Ken
 loved to tell stories (most of them true) but was especially good at 
telling jokes and he was good at it…really, REALLY good at it…a perfect 
delivery every…single….time! What
 Ken loved most was flying (second of course to his wife and family).&nbsp; 
During his flight exam, the Captain, so impressed with Ken’s knowledge 
and judgment, offered him a pilot’s job with Continental Airlines simply
 because Ken refused the final taxi until the Captain had closed and 
locked his window.&nbsp; According to the Captain, most guys failed right 
there! But Ken declined, choosing instead to remain on the family farm 
in northeastern Wichita County where he’d invested so much of himself 
over the years. This love of flying was never far from his heart 
however. Not long after, he signed on as a private pilot chauffeuring 
his favorite Uncle Hallie about as he built the High Plains Feedlot 
north of Leoti. But that wasn’t the end of his flying years. Ken knew no
 fear and was ecstatic when asked to join in the Weather Mod cloud 
seeding project.&nbsp; Each time the storm clouds appears, he’d wait 
anxiously for that phone call asking him to load up and fly on the 
leading edge of the thunderstorm to encourage rain and dissipate hail. 
When asked if it was dangerous, he would smile and say, “No, the guys on
 the ground have our back” but then offered no explanation of the hail 
dents on the plane??!! Hmmm, perhaps a little too close to the action?? 
He’d never tell.Ken’s
 energy knew no bounds, even at an early age. He attended elementary 
school at&nbsp;Pleasant Valley (where the old schoolhouse still stands), 
Lydia and R.B. Stewart. His day started at 4:30 am milking&nbsp;30 plus&nbsp;dairy
 cows, then he’d drive his sister and brother to country school, and 
finally head to town to start his own day at school. Ken was so 
dedicated to the success of the family farm that he literally “raised 
and sold the bacon” to help generate extra income to sustain the family 
farm. But what was learned on the farm didn’t always stay on the farm. 
Ken had an incredible memory and would often take all he’d learned and 
parlay into various small businesses and side gigs. Jack of All Trades….Master of Darned Near Every Single One of Them too!The
 list of all Ken did is impressive: he farmed, ranched, drove truck and 
custom harvested, and ran a trenching and excavating business laying 
miles and miles of water line in the remote Kansas wilderness. He 
mastered butchering and sausage-making long before it was the new 
homesteading-prepper trend. Self-taught master plumber, electrician, 
carpenter and mechanic, he’d even diagnose problems over the phone!&nbsp; He 
made the best popcorn and potato donuts this side of outer space. 
Seriously, what couldn’t he do? Well, he couldn’t stay single and in 
1964 Linda Sue Burkart nabbed him or maybe….just maybe…he talked her 
into marriage? After all, Ken could indeed “sell ice to an Eskimo.” But
 the favored story begins like this: Ken was a Sunday School teacher and
 a youth group sponsor at the Assembly of God church where the entire 
family was baptized together. Ken believed God was responsible for an 
encounter he had with a rattlesnake (one of literally hundreds he’s 
slain over his lifetime) while farming in the Lamar, CO area. The area 
was full of abandoned cisterns and rattlesnakes and at least 30 minutes 
from civilization. The rattlesnakes were so bad that it wasn’t even safe
 to walk from the pickup to the tractor. The safest entrance in and out 
of the tractor was crawling through an open window from the bed of the 
pickup, feet never touching the ground. Early one fall morning, Ken 
drove up to the tractor, decided to open the pickup door, and get out, 
thinking the cool, brisk morning had surely stalled the slithers. He 
took his first step and as he lifted his foot for the second, he heard a
 strange noise that sort of sounded like a rattle. He looked back and 
realized that his first step had been planted squarely on the head of a 
rattler and that the twist in his step had dislocated the snake’s jaw, 
preventing what would have been a deadly bite. Truly God had protected 
him exactly as his wife had prayed every morning: “He that dwelleth 
in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the
 Almighty.....Thou shall tread on the lion and the adder, the young lion
 and adder shall thou trample underfoot .” (Psalm 91: 1 &amp; 12) Whew! God’s Protection!!Ever
 compassionate and kind (well, not to rattlesnakes), Ken never&nbsp;met a 
stranger. He truly loved visiting with everyone. Generous to a fault and
 always glad to help, no strings attached, he believed the best in 
people. He always went out of his way when he discovered someone 
in&nbsp;sincere need, and even if it took extra effort on&nbsp;his&nbsp;part, he made 
sure they felt like they were earning their way rather than being given a
 mere handout.Yes, the stories are true.When
 Ken boarded the plane for his last and final flight, he left his wife, 
Linda Sue (Burkart) Schwindt of the home, eldest daughter Kendra (David 
Kennelly) Schwindt of Marienthal, KS, youngest daughter Lynda (Allen) 
Brockmeier of Hays, KS, grand-daughter Dr. Megan Swope of Beaverton, OR,
 sister Lois Tucker of Wellington, CO, sister Norma (Bob) Marsh of 
Phoenix, AZ, and numerous nieces and nephews who all know how to tie 
their shoes. &nbsp;Join the family along with Rev. Paul NcNall and Rev. Tod &nbsp;Anthony on Saturday, June 25th, 2022, at 2:00 PM at the United Methodist Church in Leoti, KS to wish Ken safe travels. Ever
 appreciative of their service, the Leoti EMS in care of Price &amp; 
Sons is deserving of memorials in lieu of flowers in Ken’s name. Please 
make checks to the Leoti EMS and mail to Price and Sons Funeral Home, PO
 Box 161, Leoti, KS 67861. Obituary Guest Book/Tribute Wall at 
www.PriceandSons.com

Kenneth Dean 'Kenny' Schwindt

Joseph Yanda, of Ellis, Kansas, died 
Sunday, June 12, 2022, at his home in Ellis.&nbsp; He was born in Quinter, 
Kansas, on October 14, 1950, to Theodore Sebastian and Lugarda 'Lou' 
(Ziegler) Yanda.

On August 5, 1978, he married Jean K. 
Morris in Oakley, Kansas. She preceded his in death just 7 months ago, 
on November 7, 2021.

Joe was a custodian at Fort Hays State 
University and was considered a jack of all trades, performing odd jobs 
and handyman work for many of his friends and family.&nbsp; He enjoyed his 
association and membership in the High Plains Longrifles and was a 
master gunsmith.&nbsp; He took pride in his family and was also a man of 
faith.

Mass of Christian Burial will be 
Friday, June 17th at 2 PM at St Mary's Catholic Church - Ellis with Rev.
 Dana Clark officiating, inurnment will follow the services in the 
parish cemetery.&nbsp;

Visitation will be Thursday, June 16th 
from 6 PM&nbsp;to 8 PM with a parish vigil service at 7 PM at Keithley 
Funeral Chapel, 400 E. 17th, Ellis, KS 67637.

He is survived by a son: Dean Yanda of 
Ellis; two daughters: Jessica Smith and husband Jon of Mons, Belgium and
 Amanda Cross and husband Casey of Hays; as well as two 
grandchildren:&nbsp;Ayden, and Ella Yanda; one sister: Leaette Bandy and her 
husband Bruce of Colby, Kansas; and&nbsp;a sister-in-law: Elaine Yanda.&nbsp; He 
was preceded in death by his parents; his brother, John; and his 
sweetheart, Jean.

Memorials are suggested to: High Plains Longrifles in care of the funeral chapel.

Condolences may be left by guest book 
at www.keithleyfuneralchapels.com or by email at 
keithleyfuneralhomes@gmail.com.&nbsp; Services in care of Keithley Funeral 
Chapel 400 E. 17th Ellis, KS 67637.

Joseph Yanda, of Ellis, Kansas, died 
Sunday, June 12, 2022, at his home in Ellis.&nbsp; He was born in Quinter, 
Kansas, on October 14, 1950, to Theodore Sebastian and Lugarda 'Lou' 
(Ziegler) Yanda.On August 5, 1978, he married Jean K. 
Morris in Oakley, Kansas. She preceded his in death just 7 months ago, 
on November 7, 2021.<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2022/6/1655239812098.jpeg" alt="Joseph Yanda" />
 <figcaption>Joseph Yanda</figcaption>
 </figure>Joe was a custodian at Fort Hays State 
University and was considered a jack of all trades, performing odd jobs 
and handyman work for many of his friends and family.&nbsp; He enjoyed his 
association and membership in the High Plains Longrifles and was a 
master gunsmith.&nbsp; He took pride in his family and was also a man of 
faith.Mass of Christian Burial will be 
Friday, June 17th at 2 PM at St Mary's Catholic Church - Ellis with Rev.
 Dana Clark officiating, inurnment will follow the services in the 
parish cemetery.&nbsp;Visitation will be Thursday, June 16th 
from 6 PM&nbsp;to 8 PM with a parish vigil service at 7 PM at Keithley 
Funeral Chapel, 400 E. 17th, Ellis, KS 67637.He is survived by a son: Dean Yanda of 
Ellis; two daughters: Jessica Smith and husband Jon of Mons, Belgium and
 Amanda Cross and husband Casey of Hays; as well as two 
grandchildren:&nbsp;Ayden, and Ella Yanda; one sister: Leaette Bandy and her 
husband Bruce of Colby, Kansas; and&nbsp;a sister-in-law: Elaine Yanda.&nbsp; He 
was preceded in death by his parents; his brother, John; and his 
sweetheart, Jean.Memorials are suggested to: High Plains Longrifles in care of the funeral chapel.Condolences may be left by guest book 
at www.keithleyfuneralchapels.com or by email at 
keithleyfuneralhomes@gmail.com.&nbsp; Services in care of Keithley Funeral 
Chapel 400 E. 17th Ellis, KS 67637.

Joseph Yanda

Jack T. Dunn Jr., 80, passed away on June 13, 2022, at University of
 Kansas Medical Center – Great Bend Campus in Great Bend, Kansas. He was
 born on October 21, 1941, to Jack T. &amp; Bessie (Pease) Dunn in Welch,
 Okla. Jack married Cheryl Thompson; they later divorced. On December 
17, 1965, he married Janet Mullen in Great Bend, Kansas. She passed away
 in 1981. He then married Joann Boling on November 9, 1990, in Great 
Bend.&nbsp;

A long-time resident of Great Bend, Jack worked for many years as a 
chemical engineer for Davis Mud and Chemical, Inc., followed by 35 years
 in IT for Doonan Trailer. He loved spending time riding his motorcycle 
and with his family.

Survivors include his wife of the home; four sons, Bradley (Teri) 
Thompson of Elk City, Okla., Jack T. (Jennifer) Dunn, III of Eudora, 
Kan., Michael (Cathy) Dunn of Leavenworth, Kan., and Dusty (Dusty) Davis
 of Ennis, Tex.; twelve grandchildren; and sixteen great-grandchildren. 
He is preceded in death by his wife, Janet Mullen; his parents; a 
daughter, Michelle Dunn; and a brother, James Dunn.

There will be no visitation as cremation has taken place. A funeral 
service will be held on Thursday, June 16, 2022, at 2:00 p.m. at Bryant 
Funeral Home Chapel with Pastor Larry Schumacher presiding. Inurnment 
will follow at Great Bend Cemetery. Memorials have been designated to 
Run for the Wall, in care of Bryant Funeral Home.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2022/6/1655231229761.jpeg" alt="" />
 <figcaption></figcaption>
 </figure>Jack T. Dunn Jr., 80, passed away on June 13, 2022, at University of
 Kansas Medical Center – Great Bend Campus in Great Bend, Kansas. He was
 born on October 21, 1941, to Jack T. &amp; Bessie (Pease) Dunn in Welch,
 Okla. Jack married Cheryl Thompson; they later divorced. On December 
17, 1965, he married Janet Mullen in Great Bend, Kansas. She passed away
 in 1981. He then married Joann Boling on November 9, 1990, in Great 
Bend.&nbsp;A long-time resident of Great Bend, Jack worked for many years as a 
chemical engineer for Davis Mud and Chemical, Inc., followed by 35 years
 in IT for Doonan Trailer. He loved spending time riding his motorcycle 
and with his family.Survivors include his wife of the home; four sons, Bradley (Teri) 
Thompson of Elk City, Okla., Jack T. (Jennifer) Dunn, III of Eudora, 
Kan., Michael (Cathy) Dunn of Leavenworth, Kan., and Dusty (Dusty) Davis
 of Ennis, Tex.; twelve grandchildren; and sixteen great-grandchildren. 
He is preceded in death by his wife, Janet Mullen; his parents; a 
daughter, Michelle Dunn; and a brother, James Dunn.There will be no visitation as cremation has taken place. A funeral 
service will be held on Thursday, June 16, 2022, at 2:00 p.m. at Bryant 
Funeral Home Chapel with Pastor Larry Schumacher presiding. Inurnment 
will follow at Great Bend Cemetery. Memorials have been designated to 
Run for the Wall, in care of Bryant Funeral Home.

Jack T. Dunn Jr.

Johnney “John” Lee Guffey, 81, of McPherson, KS, peacefully passed away on Monday, June 13, 2022, surrounded by his family at Hillsboro Community Hospital.&nbsp; Over the years, he worked for San Ore, Mistletoe Express, Beaver Express, and Prairieland Partners.&nbsp;

John was born on February 26, 1941, in Fairlane, OK, the son of Vernon M. and Ruby (May) Guffey.&nbsp; He graduated from Codell High School.&nbsp; He served in the United States Army from October 31, 1963 to October 29, 1965.&nbsp; On December 29, 1969, John was united in marriage to Kay F. Basgall in Loretta, KS.&nbsp; This union was blessed with three children, Jeffrey, Brian, and Betty.

He was a member of St. Joseph Catholic Church, Knights of Columbus, and the American Legion Post #24.&nbsp;&nbsp;

Survivors include his loving wife of 52 years, Kay of the home; two children, Brian Guffey of McPherson, KS and Betty Laney (Josh) of Walton, KS; four grandchildren, Kane Guffey, Katelyn Guffey, Nichole Yianakopulos, and Caleb Laney; two great-grandchildren, Landyn Koons and Koda McFadden; a brother, Richard Guffey (Deb) of Hays, KS; sister-in-law, Carol Guffey of Brunswick, GA; and many extended family and friends.

He was preceded in death by his parents; brother, Ronald Guffey; sister, Janis Johnson; a son, Jeffrey Guffey; a grandson, Trenton Yianakopulos; and daughter-in-law, Cindy Guffey.

The family will receive friends from 5:00 PM to 7:00 PM, Thursday, June 16, 2022, at Stockham Family Funeral Home.&nbsp; A Rosary will be held at 10:00 AM, Friday, June 17, followed by a Mass of Christian Burial at St. Joseph Catholic Church with Fr. Ben Shockey officiating.&nbsp; Burial with Military Honors will follow at McPherson Cemetery.

Memorial donations may be given to St. Joseph Catholic Church or McPherson County Food Bank in care of Stockham Family Funeral Home, 205 North Chestnut, McPherson, KS 67460.&nbsp; Personal condolences may be sent to the family at&nbsp;<a href="http://www.stockhamfamily.com/">www.stockhamfamily.com</a>.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2022/6/1655225590909.jpeg" alt="" />
 <figcaption></figcaption>
 </figure>Johnney “John” Lee Guffey, 81, of McPherson, KS, peacefully passed away on Monday, June 13, 2022, surrounded by his family at Hillsboro Community Hospital.&nbsp; Over the years, he worked for San Ore, Mistletoe Express, Beaver Express, and Prairieland Partners.&nbsp;John was born on February 26, 1941, in Fairlane, OK, the son of Vernon M. and Ruby (May) Guffey.&nbsp; He graduated from Codell High School.&nbsp; He served in the United States Army from October 31, 1963 to October 29, 1965.&nbsp; On December 29, 1969, John was united in marriage to Kay F. Basgall in Loretta, KS.&nbsp; This union was blessed with three children, Jeffrey, Brian, and Betty.He was a member of St. Joseph Catholic Church, Knights of Columbus, and the American Legion Post #24.&nbsp;&nbsp;Survivors include his loving wife of 52 years, Kay of the home; two children, Brian Guffey of McPherson, KS and Betty Laney (Josh) of Walton, KS; four grandchildren, Kane Guffey, Katelyn Guffey, Nichole Yianakopulos, and Caleb Laney; two great-grandchildren, Landyn Koons and Koda McFadden; a brother, Richard Guffey (Deb) of Hays, KS; sister-in-law, Carol Guffey of Brunswick, GA; and many extended family and friends.He was preceded in death by his parents; brother, Ronald Guffey; sister, Janis Johnson; a son, Jeffrey Guffey; a grandson, Trenton Yianakopulos; and daughter-in-law, Cindy Guffey.The family will receive friends from 5:00 PM to 7:00 PM, Thursday, June 16, 2022, at Stockham Family Funeral Home.&nbsp; A Rosary will be held at 10:00 AM, Friday, June 17, followed by a Mass of Christian Burial at St. Joseph Catholic Church with Fr. Ben Shockey officiating.&nbsp; Burial with Military Honors will follow at McPherson Cemetery.Memorial donations may be given to St. Joseph Catholic Church or McPherson County Food Bank in care of Stockham Family Funeral Home, 205 North Chestnut, McPherson, KS 67460.&nbsp; Personal condolences may be sent to the family at&nbsp;<a href="http://www.stockhamfamily.com/">www.stockhamfamily.com</a>.

Johnney 'John' Lee Guffey

Shielda Joy Jeffery, 88, passed away at the Park Lane Nursing Home in
 Scott City on June 11, 2022, after a brief illness. She was born in 
Abilene, Kansas, on October 29, 1933, and remained a Kansas native, 
calling Scott City home for the last 64 years.

She was a caring, considerate, and generous family member and friend.
 Shielda invested a lot of time into letter writing, card mailing, 
memory keeping, and phone conversations. She had a giving heart, always 
looking for ways to help those around her.

In 1999, Shielda retired from Scott Pro after 25 years of service. 
She lived out her retirement in the community she loved and raised her 
three boys in.

Shielda is survived by three sons, Stan Lacey and Lisa of Rio Vista, 
CA, Craig Lacey and Connie of Sterling, KS, Malcolm Lacey and Rosa of 
Redondo Beach, CA; 12 grandchildren; 23 great-grandchildren; one sister,
 Jean Elmquist and Jerry of Sacramento, CA.

She was preceded in death by her parents, Glenn and Evadena Madden, and her brother, Glenn Madden Jr.

A graveside memorial service will be held at 10:00 a.m. Saturday, 
July 16, 2022, at the Scott County Cemetery in Scott City, Kansas with 
Steve Payne presiding.

In lieu of flowers, contributions can be written to Park Lane Nursing Home in Scott City, Kansas.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2022/6/1655221526223.png" alt="" />
 <figcaption></figcaption>
 </figure>Shielda Joy Jeffery, 88, passed away at the Park Lane Nursing Home in
 Scott City on June 11, 2022, after a brief illness. She was born in 
Abilene, Kansas, on October 29, 1933, and remained a Kansas native, 
calling Scott City home for the last 64 years.She was a caring, considerate, and generous family member and friend.
 Shielda invested a lot of time into letter writing, card mailing, 
memory keeping, and phone conversations. She had a giving heart, always 
looking for ways to help those around her.In 1999, Shielda retired from Scott Pro after 25 years of service. 
She lived out her retirement in the community she loved and raised her 
three boys in.Shielda is survived by three sons, Stan Lacey and Lisa of Rio Vista, 
CA, Craig Lacey and Connie of Sterling, KS, Malcolm Lacey and Rosa of 
Redondo Beach, CA; 12 grandchildren; 23 great-grandchildren; one sister,
 Jean Elmquist and Jerry of Sacramento, CA.She was preceded in death by her parents, Glenn and Evadena Madden, and her brother, Glenn Madden Jr.A graveside memorial service will be held at 10:00 a.m. Saturday, 
July 16, 2022, at the Scott County Cemetery in Scott City, Kansas with 
Steve Payne presiding.In lieu of flowers, contributions can be written to Park Lane Nursing Home in Scott City, Kansas.There will be no calling times.

Shielda Joy Jeffery

Elmer Reno Purvis, age 83, lifelong resident of Sherman County, passed away Thursday, June 9, 2022, at Topside Manor.&nbsp;

Elmer was born to Ralph and Murel (Moore) Purvis on the family farm 
in Sherman County. He attended Sandy Hill and Smokey Hill Country 
schools until the 8th grade. He completed diesel mechanics training and 
received a diploma from Interstate Training Service for Diesel and Heavy
 Equipment. On June 5, 1960, he married Joyce Tracey in Texhoma, 
Oklahoma.&nbsp; Elmer lived all his life in Sherman County, except for 4 
years while working for Chicago Rock Island and Pacific Railroad, he 
returned to the family farm in October 1961.&nbsp;

He was raised in a Christian home and fondly recalled his mom reading
 Bible stories and praying with him. He especially remembered the time 
when he was 4 years old, while riding on a trailer of wheat with his 8 
year old sister, JoAnn. His father was turning onto a cement slab to 
dump the wheat when Elmer decided to climb off over the side, slipped 
and slid under the trailer, the tires went over the pelvis area, 
breaking his hips and causing severe internal injuries.&nbsp; Doctors in 
Goodland didn’t expect him to live and was keeping him sedated, after 24
 hours they called in Dr. Renner who performed a life-saving surgery.&nbsp;

Elmer loved to farm and could hardly wait each spring to be out in 
the field.&nbsp; He put down an irrigation well in 1965, and irrigated by 
ditch-type for many years, laying out pipe, changing water morning and 
night and all that goes with it.&nbsp; Later he changed to using sprinkler 
systems. The kids said that dad decided to go to center pivots after 
there was no children to help move pipe and change water.&nbsp; He was 
blessed when Stan and Becky agreed to move back to Sherman County and 
help farm.&nbsp;

As the grandkids came along, he loved giving them tractor and combine
 rides. Elmer loved music, playing his steel guitar, and having someone 
playing piano or other instruments along with him.&nbsp; He sang with a men’s
 quartet at church. Elmer served on the board at Goodland Bible Church, 
the Goodland Christian School, and the McPherson Township Board.&nbsp;

He is preceded in death by his parents; 3 sisters, Minnie Brazda, Irene Jewel and Ruth Sears.&nbsp;

Elmer is survived by his wife, Joyce of Sherman County; children, 
Terri (Jerry) Spooner of Fort Morgan, CO, Tammy (Tim) Rensberger of 
Buchanan, MI, Stan (Becky) Purvis of Sherman County, Steve (Carrie) 
Purvis of Niles, MI, Tracy (John) Adams of Troy, IL; grandchildren, Jill
 (Tanner) Dixon, Drew (Kinsey), Zach (Jamie), Zeb (Karent) Tedford, 
Bryce (Malorie) Rensberger, Lance (Caitlin), Tiffany and Lisa (Logan) 
Veer, Mac, Katie, LJ, Kamie Purvis, Tyrel (Alyssa) Purvis, Trey 
(Kelsey), Taylor (Chelseah) Purvis, Jaather, Luke and Kara Adams; 
great-greatgrandchildren, Wyatt and Lane Dixon, Mason Tedford, Emma, 
Ella, Ezra, Ezekiel Tedford, Kinsley and Levi Rensberger, Elias and 
Sadie Rensberger, Paisley, Presley and Phoenix Purvis, Aurora, Zulina 
Purvis and Savannah Purvis; brother, Wayne and sister, JoAnn James as 
well many nieces and nephews.&nbsp;

Memorials may be designated to Life Action Ministries, Ethnos360 or 
Goodland Bible Church and may be left at the service or sent in care of 
Bateman Funeral Home, P.O. Box 278, Goodland, Kansas 67735.&nbsp; Information
 and online condolences www.batemanfuneral.com

Click <a href="https://www.batemanfuneral.com/obituary/Elmer-Purvis">HERE</a> for service details.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2022/6/1654882390638.jpeg" alt="" />
 <figcaption></figcaption>
 </figure>Elmer Reno Purvis, age 83, lifelong resident of Sherman County, passed away Thursday, June 9, 2022, at Topside Manor.&nbsp;Elmer was born to Ralph and Murel (Moore) Purvis on the family farm 
in Sherman County. He attended Sandy Hill and Smokey Hill Country 
schools until the 8th grade. He completed diesel mechanics training and 
received a diploma from Interstate Training Service for Diesel and Heavy
 Equipment. On June 5, 1960, he married Joyce Tracey in Texhoma, 
Oklahoma.&nbsp; Elmer lived all his life in Sherman County, except for 4 
years while working for Chicago Rock Island and Pacific Railroad, he 
returned to the family farm in October 1961.&nbsp;He was raised in a Christian home and fondly recalled his mom reading
 Bible stories and praying with him. He especially remembered the time 
when he was 4 years old, while riding on a trailer of wheat with his 8 
year old sister, JoAnn. His father was turning onto a cement slab to 
dump the wheat when Elmer decided to climb off over the side, slipped 
and slid under the trailer, the tires went over the pelvis area, 
breaking his hips and causing severe internal injuries.&nbsp; Doctors in 
Goodland didn’t expect him to live and was keeping him sedated, after 24
 hours they called in Dr. Renner who performed a life-saving surgery.&nbsp;Elmer loved to farm and could hardly wait each spring to be out in 
the field.&nbsp; He put down an irrigation well in 1965, and irrigated by 
ditch-type for many years, laying out pipe, changing water morning and 
night and all that goes with it.&nbsp; Later he changed to using sprinkler 
systems. The kids said that dad decided to go to center pivots after 
there was no children to help move pipe and change water.&nbsp; He was 
blessed when Stan and Becky agreed to move back to Sherman County and 
help farm.&nbsp;As the grandkids came along, he loved giving them tractor and combine
 rides. Elmer loved music, playing his steel guitar, and having someone 
playing piano or other instruments along with him.&nbsp; He sang with a men’s
 quartet at church. Elmer served on the board at Goodland Bible Church, 
the Goodland Christian School, and the McPherson Township Board.&nbsp;He is preceded in death by his parents; 3 sisters, Minnie Brazda, Irene Jewel and Ruth Sears.&nbsp;Elmer is survived by his wife, Joyce of Sherman County; children, 
Terri (Jerry) Spooner of Fort Morgan, CO, Tammy (Tim) Rensberger of 
Buchanan, MI, Stan (Becky) Purvis of Sherman County, Steve (Carrie) 
Purvis of Niles, MI, Tracy (John) Adams of Troy, IL; grandchildren, Jill
 (Tanner) Dixon, Drew (Kinsey), Zach (Jamie), Zeb (Karent) Tedford, 
Bryce (Malorie) Rensberger, Lance (Caitlin), Tiffany and Lisa (Logan) 
Veer, Mac, Katie, LJ, Kamie Purvis, Tyrel (Alyssa) Purvis, Trey 
(Kelsey), Taylor (Chelseah) Purvis, Jaather, Luke and Kara Adams; 
great-greatgrandchildren, Wyatt and Lane Dixon, Mason Tedford, Emma, 
Ella, Ezra, Ezekiel Tedford, Kinsley and Levi Rensberger, Elias and 
Sadie Rensberger, Paisley, Presley and Phoenix Purvis, Aurora, Zulina 
Purvis and Savannah Purvis; brother, Wayne and sister, JoAnn James as 
well many nieces and nephews.&nbsp;Memorials may be designated to Life Action Ministries, Ethnos360 or 
Goodland Bible Church and may be left at the service or sent in care of 
Bateman Funeral Home, P.O. Box 278, Goodland, Kansas 67735.&nbsp; Information
 and online condolences www.batemanfuneral.comClick <a href="https://www.batemanfuneral.com/obituary/Elmer-Purvis">HERE</a> for service details.

Elmer Reno Purvis

Theodore V. “Teddy” Gingrich, 80, passed away June 6, 2022, at Salina Regional Health Center, Salina, KS.

He was born October 12, 1941, in Larned, the son of Ted Warder and 
Lola Emma Buhrer Gingrich.&nbsp; A lifetime area resident, he was a 
Farmer/Stockman.

He was a member of the Church of Christ, St. John, where he served as
 an Elder.&nbsp; He enjoyed Church, Farming and spending time with family and
 his dog, Roxie.

On October 22, 1961, he married Carol Ann McBride in St. John, KS.&nbsp; She survives.

Other survivors include: three daughters, Shari (Jim) Soukup, Desert 
Hills, AZ, Serena (Tim) Neidig, Belpre, KS, Lori (Brent) LaMar, Desert 
Hills, AZ; two sisters, Martha (Vince) Guzzo, Overland Park, KS, Vivian 
Johnston, Lenexa, KS; four grandchildren and seven great grandchildren.

He was preceded in death by his parents and his beloved dog, Roxie.

Cremation has taken place and a memorial service will be 10 a.m. 
Saturday, June 11, 2022, at Larned United Methodist Church with Carl 
Feril presiding. Visitation will be from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. Friday, June 
10, 2022 at Beckwith Mortuary, Larned.&nbsp; Inurnment will be in the 
Pleasant Valley Cemetery, Zook, KS.

Memorials may be given to Church of Christ, St. John or Tunnel to 
Towers in care of Beckwith Mortuary, P.O. Box 477 Larned, KS 67550.&nbsp; 
Condolences may be left at <a href="http://www.beckwithmortuary.com">www.beckwithmortuary.com</a>.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2022/6/1654710252890.jpeg" alt="" />
 <figcaption></figcaption>
 </figure>Theodore V. “Teddy” Gingrich, 80, passed away June 6, 2022, at Salina Regional Health Center, Salina, KS.He was born October 12, 1941, in Larned, the son of Ted Warder and 
Lola Emma Buhrer Gingrich.&nbsp; A lifetime area resident, he was a 
Farmer/Stockman.He was a member of the Church of Christ, St. John, where he served as
 an Elder.&nbsp; He enjoyed Church, Farming and spending time with family and
 his dog, Roxie.On October 22, 1961, he married Carol Ann McBride in St. John, KS.&nbsp; She survives.Other survivors include: three daughters, Shari (Jim) Soukup, Desert 
Hills, AZ, Serena (Tim) Neidig, Belpre, KS, Lori (Brent) LaMar, Desert 
Hills, AZ; two sisters, Martha (Vince) Guzzo, Overland Park, KS, Vivian 
Johnston, Lenexa, KS; four grandchildren and seven great grandchildren.He was preceded in death by his parents and his beloved dog, Roxie.Cremation has taken place and a memorial service will be 10 a.m. 
Saturday, June 11, 2022, at Larned United Methodist Church with Carl 
Feril presiding. Visitation will be from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. Friday, June 
10, 2022 at Beckwith Mortuary, Larned.&nbsp; Inurnment will be in the 
Pleasant Valley Cemetery, Zook, KS.Memorials may be given to Church of Christ, St. John or Tunnel to 
Towers in care of Beckwith Mortuary, P.O. Box 477 Larned, KS 67550.&nbsp; 
Condolences may be left at <a href="http://www.beckwithmortuary.com">www.beckwithmortuary.com</a>.

Teddy V. Gingrich

Michelle Janette Kaiser, 55, died June 6, 2022, at Ascension Via 
Christi St. Francis, Wichita, Kansas. She was born October 24, 1966, in 
Emporia, Kansas, the daughter of Martin James and Kary Sue (Overbaugh) 
Miller.&nbsp; Michelle was a 1985 graduate for Hoisington High School and 
went on to graduate from Barton County Community College.

On October 24, 1987, she married Randy Joseph Kaiser at Concordia Lutheran Church in Hoisington.

A lifetime Hoisington area resident, Michelle was a teacher at 
Roosevelt Elementary School in Hoisington.&nbsp; She started as a teacher’s 
aide in 1988 and has been a 3 year old &nbsp;pre-school teacher for many 
years. Each child was deeply loved and cared for under her guidance.

A strong woman of faith, Michelle was a member of Concordia Lutheran 
Church where she taught both Sunday School and Bible School, and was a 
member of the Lutheran Women’s Missionary League and the church choir. 
She also attended Trinity Lutheran Church where she was a member of the 
bell choir.

Michelle was born and raised on a dairy farm and always loved to work
 with animals. She was involved in the Eureka Homesteaders 4-H &nbsp;Club as a
 child, showing dairy cows, and later as a leader with her children.&nbsp; 
She loved summers on the farm helping with harvest, whether it was 
driving truck, tractor or the combine or helping prepare the meal with 
her mother.

Survivors include; her husband of 34 years, Randy Joseph Kaiser of 
the home; and three children, Brianna Rachelle Boller and husband Sean 
of Garden City, Sarah Sue Wilson and husband Christian of Colby, and 
Jeffrey James Kaiser and fiance Amy Christopher of Hoisington; parents, 
Jim and Kary Miller of Hoisington; sister, Cynthia Lockwood and husband 
Kent of Great Bend; and brothers, Troy Miller and wife Carrie, and Mark 
Miller, all of Great Bend; mother-in-law, Shirley Miller of Hoisington; 
&nbsp;many nieces and nephews and great nieces and nephews; and most 
importantly her two grandchildren, Emerson Grace Boller and Olivia James
 Wilson.

She was preceded in death by her grandparents, Martin &amp; Juanita 
Miller, and Fred &amp; Beulah Overbaugh, and father-in-law, Walter 
Kaiser.

Visitation will be Thursday 9 a.m. to 8 p.m., Thursday, with family 
to greet friends from 6-8 p.m. at Nicholson-Ricke Funeral Home Chapel.

Funeral service will be 2 p.m., Friday, June 10, 2022, at Concordia 
Lutheran Church, with Pastor Gary Wolf presiding.&nbsp; Burial will follow in
 Hoisington Cemetery.

Memorials may be made to Michelle Kaiser Memorial Fund, Kans for 
Kids, or Clara Barton Hospital Foundation in care of Nicholson-Ricke 
Funeral Home, PO Box 146, Hoisington, KS 67544.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2022/6/1654695572917.png" alt="" />
 <figcaption></figcaption>
 </figure>Michelle Janette Kaiser, 55, died June 6, 2022, at Ascension Via 
Christi St. Francis, Wichita, Kansas. She was born October 24, 1966, in 
Emporia, Kansas, the daughter of Martin James and Kary Sue (Overbaugh) 
Miller.&nbsp; Michelle was a 1985 graduate for Hoisington High School and 
went on to graduate from Barton County Community College.On October 24, 1987, she married Randy Joseph Kaiser at Concordia Lutheran Church in Hoisington.A lifetime Hoisington area resident, Michelle was a teacher at 
Roosevelt Elementary School in Hoisington.&nbsp; She started as a teacher’s 
aide in 1988 and has been a 3 year old &nbsp;pre-school teacher for many 
years. Each child was deeply loved and cared for under her guidance.A strong woman of faith, Michelle was a member of Concordia Lutheran 
Church where she taught both Sunday School and Bible School, and was a 
member of the Lutheran Women’s Missionary League and the church choir. 
She also attended Trinity Lutheran Church where she was a member of the 
bell choir.Michelle was born and raised on a dairy farm and always loved to work
 with animals. She was involved in the Eureka Homesteaders 4-H &nbsp;Club as a
 child, showing dairy cows, and later as a leader with her children.&nbsp; 
She loved summers on the farm helping with harvest, whether it was 
driving truck, tractor or the combine or helping prepare the meal with 
her mother.Survivors include; her husband of 34 years, Randy Joseph Kaiser of 
the home; and three children, Brianna Rachelle Boller and husband Sean 
of Garden City, Sarah Sue Wilson and husband Christian of Colby, and 
Jeffrey James Kaiser and fiance Amy Christopher of Hoisington; parents, 
Jim and Kary Miller of Hoisington; sister, Cynthia Lockwood and husband 
Kent of Great Bend; and brothers, Troy Miller and wife Carrie, and Mark 
Miller, all of Great Bend; mother-in-law, Shirley Miller of Hoisington; 
&nbsp;many nieces and nephews and great nieces and nephews; and most 
importantly her two grandchildren, Emerson Grace Boller and Olivia James
 Wilson.She was preceded in death by her grandparents, Martin &amp; Juanita 
Miller, and Fred &amp; Beulah Overbaugh, and father-in-law, Walter 
Kaiser.Visitation will be Thursday 9 a.m. to 8 p.m., Thursday, with family 
to greet friends from 6-8 p.m. at Nicholson-Ricke Funeral Home Chapel.Funeral service will be 2 p.m., Friday, June 10, 2022, at Concordia 
Lutheran Church, with Pastor Gary Wolf presiding.&nbsp; Burial will follow in
 Hoisington Cemetery.Memorials may be made to Michelle Kaiser Memorial Fund, Kans for 
Kids, or Clara Barton Hospital Foundation in care of Nicholson-Ricke 
Funeral Home, PO Box 146, Hoisington, KS 67544.

Michelle Janette Kaiser

KANSAS CITY (AP) –An 18-year-old was undergoing treatment for an eating disorder when she learned she was pregnant, already in the second trimester. A mom of two found out at 20 weeks that her much-wanted baby had no kidneys or bladder. A young woman was raped and couldn’t fathom continuing a pregnancy.

Abortions later in pregnancy are relatively rare, even more so now with the availability of medications to terminate early pregnancies.

Across large parts of the United States, they are also increasingly difficult to obtain.

Now, if the U.S. Supreme Court&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/supreme-court-abortion-draft-opinion-07439f9fc4542f1500ab78dfd34036b1">overturns</a>&nbsp;its 1973 Roe v. Wade decision that legalized abortion, women will face even more hurdles in some parts of the country, and may have to travel to another state to get an abortion.

That means more women could end up having the procedure later than they wish, and the burden falls more heavily on some groups, such as teens, poor, Black, Latino and Native American women and those who live in states where access to any abortion is limited.

“It’s not because people don’t want to have them sooner,” said Dr. Diane Horvath, an OB-GYN in Baltimore, Maryland, who has performed abortions for 16 years. “It’s because barriers and new information cause them to have to push it back to later in pregnancy.”

The Associated Press interviewed three women who had abortions later in their pregnancy. While their backgrounds and reasons for terminating their pregnancies were varied, none expressed doubt about their decision — or said they were traumatized by it — and all said they were grateful that they were able to do it.

Christina Taylor already had two kids when she became pregnant with her third. Everything was going well at the start and she was looking forward to welcoming a new baby into the family.

When she was 20 weeks pregnant, Taylor went for an ultrasound and basic anatomy scan that is normally done at this stage. For most people, this is a time to find out the baby’s sex. For some, it’s also when fetal abnormalities are detected.

“I laid down and the ultrasound tech was doing her thing and she was getting really quiet and was taking a really long time,” she recalled. “She left the room at one point, ‘I need to talk to the doctor.’”

When the tech returned, Taylor could see from the look on her face that something was wrong. When the doctor arrived, he told the couple that there was no amniotic fluid. There were also no kidneys. The baby would likely not survive the pregnancy, or if by some miracle made it to full term, he would die shortly after birth.

“I told the doctor, look, I’m not sure … I don’t buy the age of viability thing, but for my own mental health and for the health of my family I want to terminate my pregnancy as soon as possible,” Taylor recalled.

She got a second doctor’s opinion and an MRI, which not only confirmed that there were no kidneys present, but also no bladder.

Fortunately, in Colorado, abortion is legal, as it was at the time, with no gestational limits. In the U.S., nearly all abortions take place in the first trimester of pregnancy. Just over 6% of abortions were performed at 14 to 20 weeks’ gestation, the second trimester, in 2019 according to the Centers For Disease Control and Prevention. Less than&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cdc.gov/reproductivehealth/data_stats/abortion.htm" target="_blank">1% took place at 21 weeks or later,</a>&nbsp;in the third, based on the most recent data available.

Taylor’s story shows what getting an abortion with access to good health care, health insurance and no legal obstacles can look like.

“I had the option to wait it out and see when he passed and then, you know, you’d have a stillbirth. But I knew I couldn’t do that. Like, I couldn’t put my kids through that,” Taylor said.

On the way home from the MRI she called her insurance company and found that they covered both types of abortion procedures, dilation and evacuation, D&amp;E, and induction and dilation, or I&amp;D. She chose the latter, which essentially would mean inducing labor and going through delivery. This way, she could have the procedure in a maternity ward, with a team of midwives.

“There was a small chance that he could have been born still alive and we would have been able to hold him and say goodbye when he passed,” Taylor said.

She labored for a day and a half. Given the circumstances, she recalled it as an overall positive experience, knowing “how much worse it could have been” had they still lived in Texas, where even in 2017 the procedure would not have been legal. The state’s current ban of all abortions after 6 weeks makes no exceptions – Taylor would have had to travel out of state to receive care, or possibly wait until her baby died in her womb, putting her at increased risk of infections and even death.

Only eight states allow abortions at any time during a pregnancy. Twenty states have no specific time limits but prohibit abortions at the time of “fetal viability,” which is generally considered to be around 23 or 24 weeks but depends on a host of other factors besides gestational age.

“I still grieve to this day for the loss of my son and my husband does too,” Taylor, who has been sharing her abortion story to bring attention to experiences such as hers, said. “But you know, we accept that that’s something that happens sometimes. And especially because of the context of knowing how lucky we were to just not have laws in the way of just doing what felt right.”

“Everyone thinks you present pregnancies the same way. You miss a period, you throw up, you take a test and at five weeks, you know you’re pregnant. And that is just not how life shakes out for a lot of people,” said Erika Christensen, founder of PatientForward, a nonprofit that helps people access later abortions.

Jenn Chalifoux, now 30 and studying law at the University of Colorado in Boulder, became pregnant in 2010, when she was 18 years old and receiving inpatient care for an eating disorder in New York. Her story touches on popular myths — that women always know they are pregnant and that women in liberal states with laws that only ban rare late abortions can easily get them.

Chalifoux returned home from college in the summer before her sophomore year to receive treatment for restrictive eating. A common symptom of such eating disorders is the loss of one’s period. A common – though by no means fail-safe – sign of being pregnant is also the loss of one’s period.

“I had a medical team of doctors and psychiatrists and stuff that I was working with. And at no point did any of us think that the fact that I hadn’t gotten my period was because of a pregnancy,” Chalifoux said.

As she was starting to recover from the eating disorder, though, her period still hadn’t returned. She was on birth control, but just to rule it out, she took a home pregnancy test, which was positive. After confirming the pregnancy through a blood test, she reached out to Planned Parenthood, where she was told that it was too late for a medical abortion and she would need a surgical procedure.

“I spent probably at least two weeks thinking about the financials, going through the money that I had,” Chalifoux said. “And a week makes a difference.”

The cost of an abortion increases significantly as time goes on, from a few hundred dollars to thousands in the second trimester and even tens of thousands later on. For many women, financial barriers to abortion serve to push the procedure later, because it can take time to come up with money. Medicaid, which provides health care coverage to low-income Americans, does not pay for abortions except in the case of rape, incest or when the mother’s life is in danger.

“It’s really hard to get an abortion in this country,” Christensen said. “And the idea that people are able to seek care by a certain date is kind of based on the myths that we get all the information we need by a certain time and that we live in equitable environments with equal access to resources and health care. Neither of those are true.”

Horvath, a fellow with Physicians for Reproductive Health, said she’s already seeing patients from other states in her Maryland practice who have found themselves too far into the pregnancy to be able to have abortions in their state.

Realizing that she could not handle it alone, Chalifoux told her parents, who embraced her with support. By this point, weeks had passed since she learned she was pregnant and she started to experience physical symptoms of pregnancy. The experience of not having control over her body as it changed horrified her and she said she getting intrusive thoughts of performing an abortion on herself.

“I just remember feeling like I wanted to cut myself open or die. The experience of not having control over my body and feeling my body, feeling it change, noticing the changes and knowing that I was getting more pregnant every day was just … I mean, it was like horror,” she recalled.

After going for an initial appointment at a hospital to prepare for the procedure, another ultrasound revealed that she was further along than first thought. In all, Chalifoux said it took about a month from the time she learned she was pregnant until she was able to receive an abortion, a few days after she turned 19.

“It was such a long time ago that I’ve healed from a lot of it, but I’m able to recognize that where I used to think that my abortion was traumatic for me, I can realize now that it was the pregnancy that was traumatic. And that the abortion was actually very healing,” she said.

Today, Chalifoux is studying law, hoping to become a public defender or find work fighting against mass incarceration and speaks publicly about her abortion as part of her reproductive rights activism. Looking back, she says, she does not think she would have survived if she were forced to carry the pregnancy to term.

“I can remember having this fear that I would be forced to give birth,” she said. “And I can remember thinking that I would rather die.”

It was July 2020. The young woman decided to check out her friend’s stand-up comedy show in a downtown Houston comedy club. She wouldn’t know anyone in the audience, but that didn’t matter. Working in the service industry and being a social, responsible person who had lived on her own since she turned 18, she wasn’t worried. She met what seemed like “a group of really cool people.” She had some drinks with them and had a good time, she recalled. Looking back, she doesn’t recall any women being part of the group. But she trusted herself.

“Everything kind of happened really fast,” said the woman, 31, whom the AP is not identifying because she is the victim of sexual assault. “I’m pretty sure, pretty sure someone slipped something in one of my drinks. I ended up waking up the next morning in a rundown motel room somewhere in southwest Houston.”

She had nothing on her except her clothes and shoes. Her phone, wallet and underwear were missing. It was about 10:30 a.m. and the motel’s management was banging on her door. Instead of offering help, she recalled, they yelled at her and kicked her out. The woman, who is Black, thinks they might have thought she was a prostitute. She walked along the side of the highway until she found a gas station where she could call a family member to pick her up.

Time went on, and she didn’t tell anyone what happened except one close friend. She started dating someone.

In late October, early November of that year, she, took a home pregnancy test. She was on birth control, but she figured maybe it had failed. She was pregnant.

After an initial appointment with a doctor who gave her an incorrect gestational age, she followed up at a women’s clinic, where she learned that she was actually further along. She did the math, and traced back the start of her pregnancy to the time she was raped back in July.

“And that was just something that I was not … I would not have been able to live with,” she said.

The young woman said it took her more than a week to absorb the shock of learning that she became pregnant from a sexual assault. More time passed as she searched for an abortion provider, encountering crisis pregnancy centers that tried to steer her away from terminating the pregnancy. One of the centers, she said, was calling her daily at one point. The woman said she felt harassed.

There was also the cost. According to medical bills the woman provided to the AP, the cost of her procedure increased by $2,500 between the time she was examined in Austin before her abortion and the time she arrived in New Mexico for the procedure. PatientForward helped cover her costs.

She was in her third trimester by the time she got on an airplane, alone, to fly to New Mexico and terminate her pregnancy at 27 weeks of gestation. She hasn’t told her family what happened, or any other friends, still coping with feelings of shame and guilt from both the rape and the abortion. She does not know who raped her.

“I have no idea who did it. No idea,” she said. “I never went back and pursued it.”

By BARBARA ORTUTAYKANSAS CITY (AP) –An 18-year-old was undergoing treatment for an eating disorder when she learned she was pregnant, already in the second trimester. A mom of two found out at 20 weeks that her much-wanted baby had no kidneys or bladder. A young woman was raped and couldn’t fathom continuing a pregnancy.Abortions later in pregnancy are relatively rare, even more so now with the availability of medications to terminate early pregnancies.Across large parts of the United States, they are also increasingly difficult to obtain.Now, if the U.S. Supreme Court&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/supreme-court-abortion-draft-opinion-07439f9fc4542f1500ab78dfd34036b1">overturns</a>&nbsp;its 1973 Roe v. Wade decision that legalized abortion, women will face even more hurdles in some parts of the country, and may have to travel to another state to get an abortion.That means more women could end up having the procedure later than they wish, and the burden falls more heavily on some groups, such as teens, poor, Black, Latino and Native American women and those who live in states where access to any abortion is limited.“It’s not because people don’t want to have them sooner,” said Dr. Diane Horvath, an OB-GYN in Baltimore, Maryland, who has performed abortions for 16 years. “It’s because barriers and new information cause them to have to push it back to later in pregnancy.”The Associated Press interviewed three women who had abortions later in their pregnancy. While their backgrounds and reasons for terminating their pregnancies were varied, none expressed doubt about their decision — or said they were traumatized by it — and all said they were grateful that they were able to do it.___WANTED BABY, MISSING ORGANSChristina Taylor already had two kids when she became pregnant with her third. Everything was going well at the start and she was looking forward to welcoming a new baby into the family.When she was 20 weeks pregnant, Taylor went for an ultrasound and basic anatomy scan that is normally done at this stage. For most people, this is a time to find out the baby’s sex. For some, it’s also when fetal abnormalities are detected.“I laid down and the ultrasound tech was doing her thing and she was getting really quiet and was taking a really long time,” she recalled. “She left the room at one point, ‘I need to talk to the doctor.’”When the tech returned, Taylor could see from the look on her face that something was wrong. When the doctor arrived, he told the couple that there was no amniotic fluid. There were also no kidneys. The baby would likely not survive the pregnancy, or if by some miracle made it to full term, he would die shortly after birth.“I told the doctor, look, I’m not sure … I don’t buy the age of viability thing, but for my own mental health and for the health of my family I want to terminate my pregnancy as soon as possible,” Taylor recalled.She got a second doctor’s opinion and an MRI, which not only confirmed that there were no kidneys present, but also no bladder.Fortunately, in Colorado, abortion is legal, as it was at the time, with no gestational limits. In the U.S., nearly all abortions take place in the first trimester of pregnancy. Just over 6% of abortions were performed at 14 to 20 weeks’ gestation, the second trimester, in 2019 according to the Centers For Disease Control and Prevention. Less than&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cdc.gov/reproductivehealth/data_stats/abortion.htm" target="_blank">1% took place at 21 weeks or later,</a>&nbsp;in the third, based on the most recent data available.Taylor’s story shows what getting an abortion with access to good health care, health insurance and no legal obstacles can look like.“I had the option to wait it out and see when he passed and then, you know, you’d have a stillbirth. But I knew I couldn’t do that. Like, I couldn’t put my kids through that,” Taylor said.On the way home from the MRI she called her insurance company and found that they covered both types of abortion procedures, dilation and evacuation, D&amp;E, and induction and dilation, or I&amp;D. She chose the latter, which essentially would mean inducing labor and going through delivery. This way, she could have the procedure in a maternity ward, with a team of midwives.“There was a small chance that he could have been born still alive and we would have been able to hold him and say goodbye when he passed,” Taylor said.She labored for a day and a half. Given the circumstances, she recalled it as an overall positive experience, knowing “how much worse it could have been” had they still lived in Texas, where even in 2017 the procedure would not have been legal. The state’s current ban of all abortions after 6 weeks makes no exceptions – Taylor would have had to travel out of state to receive care, or possibly wait until her baby died in her womb, putting her at increased risk of infections and even death.Only eight states allow abortions at any time during a pregnancy. Twenty states have no specific time limits but prohibit abortions at the time of “fetal viability,” which is generally considered to be around 23 or 24 weeks but depends on a host of other factors besides gestational age.“I still grieve to this day for the loss of my son and my husband does too,” Taylor, who has been sharing her abortion story to bring attention to experiences such as hers, said. “But you know, we accept that that’s something that happens sometimes. And especially because of the context of knowing how lucky we were to just not have laws in the way of just doing what felt right.”___‘I WAS FEELING SUICIDAL’“Everyone thinks you present pregnancies the same way. You miss a period, you throw up, you take a test and at five weeks, you know you’re pregnant. And that is just not how life shakes out for a lot of people,” said Erika Christensen, founder of PatientForward, a nonprofit that helps people access later abortions.Jenn Chalifoux, now 30 and studying law at the University of Colorado in Boulder, became pregnant in 2010, when she was 18 years old and receiving inpatient care for an eating disorder in New York. Her story touches on popular myths — that women always know they are pregnant and that women in liberal states with laws that only ban rare late abortions can easily get them.Chalifoux returned home from college in the summer before her sophomore year to receive treatment for restrictive eating. A common symptom of such eating disorders is the loss of one’s period. A common – though by no means fail-safe – sign of being pregnant is also the loss of one’s period.“I had a medical team of doctors and psychiatrists and stuff that I was working with. And at no point did any of us think that the fact that I hadn’t gotten my period was because of a pregnancy,” Chalifoux said.As she was starting to recover from the eating disorder, though, her period still hadn’t returned. She was on birth control, but just to rule it out, she took a home pregnancy test, which was positive. After confirming the pregnancy through a blood test, she reached out to Planned Parenthood, where she was told that it was too late for a medical abortion and she would need a surgical procedure.“I spent probably at least two weeks thinking about the financials, going through the money that I had,” Chalifoux said. “And a week makes a difference.”The cost of an abortion increases significantly as time goes on, from a few hundred dollars to thousands in the second trimester and even tens of thousands later on. For many women, financial barriers to abortion serve to push the procedure later, because it can take time to come up with money. Medicaid, which provides health care coverage to low-income Americans, does not pay for abortions except in the case of rape, incest or when the mother’s life is in danger.“It’s really hard to get an abortion in this country,” Christensen said. “And the idea that people are able to seek care by a certain date is kind of based on the myths that we get all the information we need by a certain time and that we live in equitable environments with equal access to resources and health care. Neither of those are true.”Horvath, a fellow with Physicians for Reproductive Health, said she’s already seeing patients from other states in her Maryland practice who have found themselves too far into the pregnancy to be able to have abortions in their state.Realizing that she could not handle it alone, Chalifoux told her parents, who embraced her with support. By this point, weeks had passed since she learned she was pregnant and she started to experience physical symptoms of pregnancy. The experience of not having control over her body as it changed horrified her and she said she getting intrusive thoughts of performing an abortion on herself.“I just remember feeling like I wanted to cut myself open or die. The experience of not having control over my body and feeling my body, feeling it change, noticing the changes and knowing that I was getting more pregnant every day was just … I mean, it was like horror,” she recalled.After going for an initial appointment at a hospital to prepare for the procedure, another ultrasound revealed that she was further along than first thought. In all, Chalifoux said it took about a month from the time she learned she was pregnant until she was able to receive an abortion, a few days after she turned 19.“It was such a long time ago that I’ve healed from a lot of it, but I’m able to recognize that where I used to think that my abortion was traumatic for me, I can realize now that it was the pregnancy that was traumatic. And that the abortion was actually very healing,” she said.Today, Chalifoux is studying law, hoping to become a public defender or find work fighting against mass incarceration and speaks publicly about her abortion as part of her reproductive rights activism. Looking back, she says, she does not think she would have survived if she were forced to carry the pregnancy to term.“I can remember having this fear that I would be forced to give birth,” she said. “And I can remember thinking that I would rather die.”___RAPE AND A DOCTOR’S MISCALCULATIONIt was July 2020. The young woman decided to check out her friend’s stand-up comedy show in a downtown Houston comedy club. She wouldn’t know anyone in the audience, but that didn’t matter. Working in the service industry and being a social, responsible person who had lived on her own since she turned 18, she wasn’t worried. She met what seemed like “a group of really cool people.” She had some drinks with them and had a good time, she recalled. Looking back, she doesn’t recall any women being part of the group. But she trusted herself.“Everything kind of happened really fast,” said the woman, 31, whom the AP is not identifying because she is the victim of sexual assault. “I’m pretty sure, pretty sure someone slipped something in one of my drinks. I ended up waking up the next morning in a rundown motel room somewhere in southwest Houston.”She had nothing on her except her clothes and shoes. Her phone, wallet and underwear were missing. It was about 10:30 a.m. and the motel’s management was banging on her door. Instead of offering help, she recalled, they yelled at her and kicked her out. The woman, who is Black, thinks they might have thought she was a prostitute. She walked along the side of the highway until she found a gas station where she could call a family member to pick her up.Time went on, and she didn’t tell anyone what happened except one close friend. She started dating someone.In late October, early November of that year, she, took a home pregnancy test. She was on birth control, but she figured maybe it had failed. She was pregnant.After an initial appointment with a doctor who gave her an incorrect gestational age, she followed up at a women’s clinic, where she learned that she was actually further along. She did the math, and traced back the start of her pregnancy to the time she was raped back in July.“And that was just something that I was not … I would not have been able to live with,” she said.The young woman said it took her more than a week to absorb the shock of learning that she became pregnant from a sexual assault. More time passed as she searched for an abortion provider, encountering crisis pregnancy centers that tried to steer her away from terminating the pregnancy. One of the centers, she said, was calling her daily at one point. The woman said she felt harassed.There was also the cost. According to medical bills the woman provided to the AP, the cost of her procedure increased by $2,500 between the time she was examined in Austin before her abortion and the time she arrived in New Mexico for the procedure. PatientForward helped cover her costs.She was in her third trimester by the time she got on an airplane, alone, to fly to New Mexico and terminate her pregnancy at 27 weeks of gestation. She hasn’t told her family what happened, or any other friends, still coping with feelings of shame and guilt from both the rape and the abortion. She does not know who raped her.“I have no idea who did it. No idea,” she said. “I never went back and pursued it.”___

Limits on early abortion drive more women to get them later

Joyce Elaine (Hulse) Harkness, 81, of Wichita, Kansas, passed away 
Wednesday, June 1, 2022, at her home with her husband and daughter by her
 side.

Joyce was born August 15, 1940, in Plainville, Kansas.&nbsp; She was one of
 five children born to Ray and Helen (Martin) Hulse.&nbsp; At the age of two,
 her family moved to Russell, Kansas where she grew up and attended 
school.

Joyce was united in marriage to Clarence Wayne Harkness on October 
14, 1956, in Russell.&nbsp; Wayne was in the military so they moved around to 
several Air Force bases before returning to Wichita after his 
retirement.

Joyce enjoyed knitting, crocheting and collecting Teddy Bears, but was very proud to be an Air Force Officer’s wife.

Joyce’s surviving family include her husband of 65 years, Wayne of 
the home; daughter, Linda Dudley; son, Stephen Harkness, Michael 
Harkness and Shaun Harkness; brother, Joe Hulse; nine grandchildren and 
19 great grandchildren.

Joyce was preceded in death by her parents, three infants and brothers, Jerry Hulse and Donald Hulse; sister, Kathy McDonald.

Celebration of Joyce’s Life will be held at 1:00 PM, Monday, June 6, 
2022, at the Otterbien United Methodist Church.&nbsp; Burial will follow at 
the Russell City Cemetery.&nbsp; Visitation will be held from 9:00 AM to 
11:30 AM, Monday, June 6, 2022, at Pohlman-Varner-Peeler Mortuary.&nbsp; 
Pohlman-Varner-Peeler Mortuary of Russell, is in charge of these 
arrangements.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2022/6/1654371021747.png" alt="" />
 <figcaption></figcaption>
 </figure>Joyce Elaine (Hulse) Harkness, 81, of Wichita, Kansas, passed away 
Wednesday, June 1, 2022, at her home with her husband and daughter by her
 side.Joyce was born August 15, 1940, in Plainville, Kansas.&nbsp; She was one of
 five children born to Ray and Helen (Martin) Hulse.&nbsp; At the age of two,
 her family moved to Russell, Kansas where she grew up and attended 
school.Joyce was united in marriage to Clarence Wayne Harkness on October 
14, 1956, in Russell.&nbsp; Wayne was in the military so they moved around to 
several Air Force bases before returning to Wichita after his 
retirement.Joyce enjoyed knitting, crocheting and collecting Teddy Bears, but was very proud to be an Air Force Officer’s wife.Joyce’s surviving family include her husband of 65 years, Wayne of 
the home; daughter, Linda Dudley; son, Stephen Harkness, Michael 
Harkness and Shaun Harkness; brother, Joe Hulse; nine grandchildren and 
19 great grandchildren.Joyce was preceded in death by her parents, three infants and brothers, Jerry Hulse and Donald Hulse; sister, Kathy McDonald.Celebration of Joyce’s Life will be held at 1:00 PM, Monday, June 6, 
2022, at the Otterbien United Methodist Church.&nbsp; Burial will follow at 
the Russell City Cemetery.&nbsp; Visitation will be held from 9:00 AM to 
11:30 AM, Monday, June 6, 2022, at Pohlman-Varner-Peeler Mortuary.&nbsp; 
Pohlman-Varner-Peeler Mortuary of Russell, is in charge of these 
arrangements.

Joyce E. Harkness

Gerald “Jerry” 
Lynn Karst, 83, of Greeley, died peacefully on May 17, 2022, surrounded 
by his family at Medical Center of the Rockies in Loveland, CO.&nbsp; He was 
born on July 18, 1938, in Russell, KS to Paul and Emma (Ochs) Karst.&nbsp; 


Jerry grew up in the Galatia, KS area and attended a one-room school 
with the same teacher for seven years.&nbsp; He was fond of this teacher and 
appreciated her extra help with his studies when he had polio in 1946.&nbsp; 
He graduated from Wilson High School in 1956 where he had been an active
 member of various clubs such as 4-H, Future Farmers of America, Glee 
Club, band, and participated in several sports including football and 
basketball.&nbsp; Following high school, he attended Fort Hays Kansas State 
College from 1956-58.&nbsp; His family then moved to Estes Park and purchased
 a motel and Jerry worked at Rocky Mountain National Park for eight 
seasons.&nbsp; Jerry also served in the U.S. Army Reserves for the 244th
 Engineer Battalion in Boulder, CO receiving an honorable discharge in 
October of 1965 holding the rank of Staff Sergeant (E-6).&nbsp;

In 1966, Jerry 
met Karen Koch while attending Colorado State College (now University of
 Northern Colorado).&nbsp; They were married on October 15, 1966, in Loveland,
 CO.&nbsp; Jerry received his Bachelor of Arts degree in 1967 and his Master 
of Education degree from Colorado State University in 1969.&nbsp; He taught 
at Northeastern Junior College in Sterling, CO 1969-70.&nbsp; He then became a
 sociology professor at Aims Community College in 1970 until he retired 
in 2001 and was awarded Emeritus Status for his outstanding 
contributions to Aims Community College.&nbsp; During his 31 years of 
teaching at Aims, he was President of the Faculty Association, State 
Chairman of Sociology for the Core Curriculum Task Force, a member of 
Team Octagon and on the Shared Governance Origination Team.&nbsp; In 1999, 
Jerry was the recipient of the Aims Faculty Senate Award for Excellence 
in teaching and in 2000 he received the Faculty of the Year Award from 
the Colorado Community Colleges and Vocational Education System.

After 
retirement, Jerry volunteered for the Union Colony Civic Center and 
North Colorado Medical Center. He was an active member of Immanuel 
Lutheran Church for 51 years and he enjoyed woodworking, college sports,
 reminiscing, and sharing jokes and stories. &nbsp;He especially loved 
reunions and large family gatherings where his aunts played the banjo 
and piano, his dad played the guitar and harmonica, and Jerry played the
 accordion. Jerry was a kind, honorable, generous, humble man and he had
 a way of filling a room with smiles and laughter. He will be dearly 
missed.

Jerry is 
survived by his wife of 55 years, Karen Karst of Greeley; daughters Amy 
Herold (Mike) of Greeley and Becky Lewus (Paul) of Newbury Park, CA; and
 his grandchildren, Abigail Herold of Fort Collins, Aidan Herold of 
Greeley, and Kalyna and Kylie Lewus of Newbury Park, CA. He was preceded
 in death by his parents and sister, Aletha DeLeo.

A memorial service will be held on Wednesday, June 15, at 10:00am at Immanuel Lutheran Church – 1865 14th
 Avenue, Greeley with inurnment following at Sunset Memorial Gardens. 


Memorial contributions may be made to Immanuel Lutheran Church or to the
 Weld County Food Bank in care of Adamson Life Celebration Home, 2000 
West 47th Avenue, Greeley, CO 80634.&nbsp; Family and friends may send 
condolences to the family at adamsoncares.com.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2022/6/1654265290851.png" alt="" />
 <figcaption></figcaption>
 </figure>Gerald “Jerry” 
Lynn Karst, 83, of Greeley, died peacefully on May 17, 2022, surrounded 
by his family at Medical Center of the Rockies in Loveland, CO.&nbsp; He was 
born on July 18, 1938, in Russell, KS to Paul and Emma (Ochs) Karst.&nbsp; 
Jerry grew up in the Galatia, KS area and attended a one-room school 
with the same teacher for seven years.&nbsp; He was fond of this teacher and 
appreciated her extra help with his studies when he had polio in 1946.&nbsp; 
He graduated from Wilson High School in 1956 where he had been an active
 member of various clubs such as 4-H, Future Farmers of America, Glee 
Club, band, and participated in several sports including football and 
basketball.&nbsp; Following high school, he attended Fort Hays Kansas State 
College from 1956-58.&nbsp; His family then moved to Estes Park and purchased
 a motel and Jerry worked at Rocky Mountain National Park for eight 
seasons.&nbsp; Jerry also served in the U.S. Army Reserves for the 244th
 Engineer Battalion in Boulder, CO receiving an honorable discharge in 
October of 1965 holding the rank of Staff Sergeant (E-6).&nbsp;In 1966, Jerry 
met Karen Koch while attending Colorado State College (now University of
 Northern Colorado).&nbsp; They were married on October 15, 1966, in Loveland,
 CO.&nbsp; Jerry received his Bachelor of Arts degree in 1967 and his Master 
of Education degree from Colorado State University in 1969.&nbsp; He taught 
at Northeastern Junior College in Sterling, CO 1969-70.&nbsp; He then became a
 sociology professor at Aims Community College in 1970 until he retired 
in 2001 and was awarded Emeritus Status for his outstanding 
contributions to Aims Community College.&nbsp; During his 31 years of 
teaching at Aims, he was President of the Faculty Association, State 
Chairman of Sociology for the Core Curriculum Task Force, a member of 
Team Octagon and on the Shared Governance Origination Team.&nbsp; In 1999, 
Jerry was the recipient of the Aims Faculty Senate Award for Excellence 
in teaching and in 2000 he received the Faculty of the Year Award from 
the Colorado Community Colleges and Vocational Education System.After 
retirement, Jerry volunteered for the Union Colony Civic Center and 
North Colorado Medical Center. He was an active member of Immanuel 
Lutheran Church for 51 years and he enjoyed woodworking, college sports,
 reminiscing, and sharing jokes and stories. &nbsp;He especially loved 
reunions and large family gatherings where his aunts played the banjo 
and piano, his dad played the guitar and harmonica, and Jerry played the
 accordion. Jerry was a kind, honorable, generous, humble man and he had
 a way of filling a room with smiles and laughter. He will be dearly 
missed.Jerry is 
survived by his wife of 55 years, Karen Karst of Greeley; daughters Amy 
Herold (Mike) of Greeley and Becky Lewus (Paul) of Newbury Park, CA; and
 his grandchildren, Abigail Herold of Fort Collins, Aidan Herold of 
Greeley, and Kalyna and Kylie Lewus of Newbury Park, CA. He was preceded
 in death by his parents and sister, Aletha DeLeo.A memorial service will be held on Wednesday, June 15, at 10:00am at Immanuel Lutheran Church – 1865 14th
 Avenue, Greeley with inurnment following at Sunset Memorial Gardens. 
Memorial contributions may be made to Immanuel Lutheran Church or to the
 Weld County Food Bank in care of Adamson Life Celebration Home, 2000 
West 47th Avenue, Greeley, CO 80634.&nbsp; Family and friends may send 
condolences to the family at adamsoncares.com.

Gerald 'Jerry' Lynn Karst

HUTCHINSON, Kan. — The defendant in a double homicide has been bound over for trial following more than six hours of testimony during his preliminary hearing in Reno County District Court.

Kyle Hardwick was bound over on two counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of 58-year-old Phillip Anstine and 56-year-old Marion “Ed” Bates in August of 2021. He is also charged with theft and had a fourth count of solicitation of perjury for trying to convince a friend, Sherry Reed, to lie on the witness stand or not show for the hearing at all.&nbsp;

Testimony Thursday morning came from friends of Bates and Anstine. Both Cathy Havell and Dawnita Joe Hartung testified they tried to get a hold of Bates over a period of two days. They testified that they drove out to a place called the "compound" east of Hutchinson where they met a man who ended up being Hardwick. He told the two women that the pair of victims had gone to town to buy cigarettes.

The two men were eventually found, Bates in a ditch covered in tree limbs and Anstine in a pit used for burning trash, his body consumed by a fire in the pit. Forensic evidence showed that Bates had been shot twice in the face while Anstine had been shot at least once in the back. The barrel of a shotgun was also found in the burn pit.

Detectives and deputies of the Reno County Sheriff’s Department also took the stand testifying about the amount of evidence they collected. DNA samples taken from items found in a camper were connected to Hardwick. DNA testing was also done on the two victims to identify them. Evidence collected from the scene included 12-gauge shotgun shells, two where Bates was allegedly shot and one more about 75 feet away near the burn pit where Anstine was found. Also found were a debit card, a receipt, a bus ticket and social security card, all belonging to the defendant.&nbsp;

The additional count of solicitation to commit perjury was added after a phone call between the defendant and Reed was played in court. Reed had just finished testifying but could not remember much about phone calls she got from Hardwick or much of anything else other than she drove him to a bus station in Kansas City. In the recorded FaceTime conversation, Hardwick repeatedly tells Reed not to show up for the hearing and, if she did testify, to tell the court she was mentally unstable and on drugs. At one time he said, “Please don’t come,” and repeatedly said, “you don’t have to show up.”

There was also testimony about a red Ford truck that was taken from the crime scene. That truck, which belonged to Anstine, was found at Pretty Prairie Road and Victory Road in October. Fingerprints tested from the truck belonged to Hardwick, although Detective Matthew Franklin with the Reno County Sheriff's Department could not say that the prints were put there during the murder and could have been placed there at any time. The defense for Hardwick asked few questions during the hearing, but did say during the testimony from Reed that Hardwick had said he was drugged and raped by the two victims. He is also quoted as saying that “Bates was a friend and he dropped like a martyr.”&nbsp;&nbsp;

Hardwick was arrested in Maize Sept. 1 near a Dollar General store where he had allegedly made purchases. The clerk at the store told detectives that Hardwick said to her that his truck had broken down near Hutchinson and that he walked to Maize. Detectives were able to locate Hardwick from a ping on a cell phone. He was found in an abandoned grain elevator.

Hardwick will be arraigned July 5 before Judge Keith Schroeder.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2021/8/1630432406794.png" alt="Hardwick-photo Reno Co." />
 <figcaption>Hardwick-photo Reno Co.</figcaption>
 </figure>By ROD ZOOK Hutch PostHUTCHINSON, Kan. — The defendant in a double homicide has been bound over for trial following more than six hours of testimony during his preliminary hearing in Reno County District Court.Kyle Hardwick was bound over on two counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of 58-year-old Phillip Anstine and 56-year-old Marion “Ed” Bates in August of 2021. He is also charged with theft and had a fourth count of solicitation of perjury for trying to convince a friend, Sherry Reed, to lie on the witness stand or not show for the hearing at all.&nbsp;Testimony Thursday morning came from friends of Bates and Anstine. Both Cathy Havell and Dawnita Joe Hartung testified they tried to get a hold of Bates over a period of two days. They testified that they drove out to a place called the "compound" east of Hutchinson where they met a man who ended up being Hardwick. He told the two women that the pair of victims had gone to town to buy cigarettes.The two men were eventually found, Bates in a ditch covered in tree limbs and Anstine in a pit used for burning trash, his body consumed by a fire in the pit. Forensic evidence showed that Bates had been shot twice in the face while Anstine had been shot at least once in the back. The barrel of a shotgun was also found in the burn pit.Detectives and deputies of the Reno County Sheriff’s Department also took the stand testifying about the amount of evidence they collected. DNA samples taken from items found in a camper were connected to Hardwick. DNA testing was also done on the two victims to identify them. Evidence collected from the scene included 12-gauge shotgun shells, two where Bates was allegedly shot and one more about 75 feet away near the burn pit where Anstine was found. Also found were a debit card, a receipt, a bus ticket and social security card, all belonging to the defendant.&nbsp;The additional count of solicitation to commit perjury was added after a phone call between the defendant and Reed was played in court. Reed had just finished testifying but could not remember much about phone calls she got from Hardwick or much of anything else other than she drove him to a bus station in Kansas City. In the recorded FaceTime conversation, Hardwick repeatedly tells Reed not to show up for the hearing and, if she did testify, to tell the court she was mentally unstable and on drugs. At one time he said, “Please don’t come,” and repeatedly said, “you don’t have to show up.”There was also testimony about a red Ford truck that was taken from the crime scene. That truck, which belonged to Anstine, was found at Pretty Prairie Road and Victory Road in October. Fingerprints tested from the truck belonged to Hardwick, although Detective Matthew Franklin with the Reno County Sheriff's Department could not say that the prints were put there during the murder and could have been placed there at any time. The defense for Hardwick asked few questions during the hearing, but did say during the testimony from Reed that Hardwick had said he was drugged and raped by the two victims. He is also quoted as saying that “Bates was a friend and he dropped like a martyr.”&nbsp;&nbsp;Hardwick was arrested in Maize Sept. 1 near a Dollar General store where he had allegedly made purchases. The clerk at the store told detectives that Hardwick said to her that his truck had broken down near Hutchinson and that he walked to Maize. Detectives were able to locate Hardwick from a ping on a cell phone. He was found in an abandoned grain elevator.Hardwick will be arraigned July 5 before Judge Keith Schroeder.

Suspect bound over for trial in Kansas double-murder case

Ralph Hansen, 83, of Colby, died Tuesday, May 31, 2022, at Hays Medical 
Center, in Hays, KS. He was born October 26, 1938, to Ernest and Eunice 
Hansen, Otis, Colorado. Ralph was the third of eight children. He 
graduated from Lone Star High School in 1956. He then attended 
Northeastern Junior College, Sterling, Colorado, where he met Betty 
Einspahr in 1958. He then went on to Colorado State University and 
married Betty on December 29, 1959. Their son Craig was born November 
1960. Ralph graduated with a degree in Agriculture from Colorado State 
University in December 1961. The young family moved to Colby, Kansas for
 his first post college job working as a Loan Officer for Production 
Credit Association where he worked for 10 years. During that time, they 
had a son Rod in August 1963, and adopted their daughter Lynae in May 
1968. In 1972 Ralph began working for the State of Kansas where he 
dedicated 30 years of his career. 
Throughout his life he devoted 25 years of service to the Boy Scouts of 
America as a volunteer Scout Master, District Executive and numerous 
other roles. He was recognized for his service with the rare Silver 
Beaver award. As a role model for the boys, he guided numerous young men
 to the rank of Eagle Scout. 
He dedicated countless hours of service to many organizations associated
 with the Lutheran Church, to include the local congregation, and the 
International Lutheran Laymen’s league. 
Ralph was preceded in death by his father and mother; older brother 
Roscoe; older sister Mary Evelyn and younger brother Ronnie. 
Ralph is survived by his sister Caroine, and brothers Kenneth, Donnie 
and wife Twila, and Dwain. He is also survived by his wife Betty; son 
Craig and wife Renae, their daughter Leshia and husband Matt Bruneel and
 their daughters Eleanor and Genevieve; son Rodney and wife Kalie and 
their son Ryan; daughter Lynae and her husband T.J. Douthit and their 
sons Jacob, James, and Justin. Also survived by numerous nieces, 
nephews, and their families. 
Ralph will be remembered as a hardworking, honest, Christian man, who 
cared deeply for those who were part of his life, always placing the 
needs of others first in his priorities. 
Visitation will take place from 5-7:00 p.m. Friday, June 3, 2022, at 
Baalmann Mortuary, Colby. Funeral Service is at 10:30 a.m. Saturday, 
June 4, 2022, at Trinity Lutheran Church, Colby, with burial in Beulah 
Cemetery, Colby. Memorials may be made to the Lutheran Hour Ministries, 
NWKS Foundation for Hope or Trinity Lutheran Church and sent in care of 
Baalmann Mortuary, PO Box 391, Colby, KS 67701. For information or to 
leave condolences visit www.baalmannmortuary.com&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2022/6/1654192048088.png" alt="" />
 <figcaption></figcaption>
 </figure>Ralph Hansen, 83, of Colby, died Tuesday, May 31, 2022, at Hays Medical 
Center, in Hays, KS. He was born October 26, 1938, to Ernest and Eunice 
Hansen, Otis, Colorado. Ralph was the third of eight children. He 
graduated from Lone Star High School in 1956. He then attended 
Northeastern Junior College, Sterling, Colorado, where he met Betty 
Einspahr in 1958. He then went on to Colorado State University and 
married Betty on December 29, 1959. Their son Craig was born November 
1960. Ralph graduated with a degree in Agriculture from Colorado State 
University in December 1961. The young family moved to Colby, Kansas for
 his first post college job working as a Loan Officer for Production 
Credit Association where he worked for 10 years. During that time, they 
had a son Rod in August 1963, and adopted their daughter Lynae in May 
1968. In 1972 Ralph began working for the State of Kansas where he 
dedicated 30 years of his career. 
Throughout his life he devoted 25 years of service to the Boy Scouts of 
America as a volunteer Scout Master, District Executive and numerous 
other roles. He was recognized for his service with the rare Silver 
Beaver award. As a role model for the boys, he guided numerous young men
 to the rank of Eagle Scout. 
He dedicated countless hours of service to many organizations associated
 with the Lutheran Church, to include the local congregation, and the 
International Lutheran Laymen’s league. 
Ralph was preceded in death by his father and mother; older brother 
Roscoe; older sister Mary Evelyn and younger brother Ronnie. 
Ralph is survived by his sister Caroine, and brothers Kenneth, Donnie 
and wife Twila, and Dwain. He is also survived by his wife Betty; son 
Craig and wife Renae, their daughter Leshia and husband Matt Bruneel and
 their daughters Eleanor and Genevieve; son Rodney and wife Kalie and 
their son Ryan; daughter Lynae and her husband T.J. Douthit and their 
sons Jacob, James, and Justin. Also survived by numerous nieces, 
nephews, and their families. 
Ralph will be remembered as a hardworking, honest, Christian man, who 
cared deeply for those who were part of his life, always placing the 
needs of others first in his priorities. 
Visitation will take place from 5-7:00 p.m. Friday, June 3, 2022, at 
Baalmann Mortuary, Colby. Funeral Service is at 10:30 a.m. Saturday, 
June 4, 2022, at Trinity Lutheran Church, Colby, with burial in Beulah 
Cemetery, Colby. Memorials may be made to the Lutheran Hour Ministries, 
NWKS Foundation for Hope or Trinity Lutheran Church and sent in care of 
Baalmann Mortuary, PO Box 391, Colby, KS 67701. For information or to 
leave condolences visit www.baalmannmortuary.com&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;

Ralph Hansen

OLATHE, Kan. (AP) — A Missouri man has been convicted of killing a woman he was accused of stalking and faces life in prison when he's sentenced in October. 

The Kansas City Star reports that a Johnson County jury found 44-year-old Clyde James Barnes Jr., of Kansas City, guilty Tuesday of first-degree murder and other counts in the July 2020 killing of 42-year-old Jessica Smith in her Olathe home. 

Barnes was also found guilty of aggravated burglary, unlawful tampering with electronic monitoring, criminal threat and violation of a protection order. Olathe police who were responding to a burglary call at Smith's home found her body inside and arrested Barnes hours later. At the time, Barnes was out on bond for a stalking charge involving Smith, but the charge was later dismissed.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2020/7/1594330565958.png" alt="Barnes-photo Johnson County" />
 <figcaption>Barnes-photo Johnson County</figcaption>
 </figure>OLATHE, Kan. (AP) — A Missouri man has been convicted of killing a woman he was accused of stalking and faces life in prison when he's sentenced in October. The Kansas City Star reports that a Johnson County jury found 44-year-old Clyde James Barnes Jr., of Kansas City, guilty Tuesday of first-degree murder and other counts in the July 2020 killing of 42-year-old Jessica Smith in her Olathe home. Barnes was also found guilty of aggravated burglary, unlawful tampering with electronic monitoring, criminal threat and violation of a protection order. Olathe police who were responding to a burglary call at Smith's home found her body inside and arrested Barnes hours later. At the time, Barnes was out on bond for a stalking charge involving Smith, but the charge was later dismissed.

Man guilty of killing Kan. woman he was accused of stalking

Marion Lavonne Reeder,&nbsp;age&nbsp;91,&nbsp;passed away on&nbsp;Tuesday, May&nbsp;31, 2022,&nbsp;in Springfield, Missouri.&nbsp;She was born February 15, 1931, in Hill City, Kansas, to Clark and Jessie (Wallace) Pierson.&nbsp;

Lavonne graduated from Salina High School in 1949 and attended Kansas Wesleyan.&nbsp;She married Carl&nbsp;Reeder on October 8, 1950, in Salina, Kansas&nbsp;and they moved to the WaKeeney area shortly thereafter.&nbsp;He preceded her in death September 12, 1978.&nbsp;

Music was a big part of&nbsp;Lavonne’s&nbsp;life.&nbsp;She sang many solos and duets in church and for weddings and funerals.&nbsp;She directed both the children's and adult church choirs&nbsp;for the Methodist Church, the latter for over 50 years. Lavonne was a member of the First United Methodist Church, participated in Harmony Club and EHU, was a former board member of Keeney Village and the Senior Center,&nbsp;former co-director of the Trego County Food Pantry,&nbsp;and&nbsp;crusade chairperson and former president of the Trego County Cancer unit,&nbsp;all in WaKeeney.

Survivors include four daughters, Cheri Watson and husband Gary, Springfield, MO; Joleen Nimz and husband Mark, WaKeeney, KS; Jeanine Welli and husband Mike, Wichita, KS; and Rhonda York and husband Dave, Leavenworth, KS; a sister, Ilene Jones, Springfield, MO; 9 grandchildren and 13 great-grandchildren.&nbsp;

She was preceded in death by her parents, husband,&nbsp;and son,&nbsp;Darryl Reeder.

Visitation will&nbsp;be&nbsp;held&nbsp;from 5:00-7:00 PM Sunday,&nbsp;June&nbsp;5, 2022, at Schmitt Funeral Home, 336 N. 12th St., WaKeeney, KS.&nbsp;

A celebration of Lavonne’s life will be held at 10:30 AM on&nbsp;Monday,&nbsp;June 6&nbsp;at&nbsp;the First United Methodist Church, 500 Summit Avenue,&nbsp;with burial following at the WaKeeney Cemetery.

Memorials may be made to the&nbsp;WaKeeney&nbsp;First United Methodist Church&nbsp;or the American Cancer Society. Donations to the organizations may be sent to Schmitt Funeral Home, 336 N 12thSt. WaKeeney, KS, 67672.

Condolences may be left for the family by visiting www.schmittfuneral.com

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2022/6/1654111341193.jpeg" alt="" />
 <figcaption></figcaption>
 </figure>Marion Lavonne Reeder,&nbsp;age&nbsp;91,&nbsp;passed away on&nbsp;Tuesday, May&nbsp;31, 2022,&nbsp;in Springfield, Missouri.&nbsp;She was born February 15, 1931, in Hill City, Kansas, to Clark and Jessie (Wallace) Pierson.&nbsp;Lavonne graduated from Salina High School in 1949 and attended Kansas Wesleyan.&nbsp;She married Carl&nbsp;Reeder on October 8, 1950, in Salina, Kansas&nbsp;and they moved to the WaKeeney area shortly thereafter.&nbsp;He preceded her in death September 12, 1978.&nbsp;Music was a big part of&nbsp;Lavonne’s&nbsp;life.&nbsp;She sang many solos and duets in church and for weddings and funerals.&nbsp;She directed both the children's and adult church choirs&nbsp;for the Methodist Church, the latter for over 50 years. Lavonne was a member of the First United Methodist Church, participated in Harmony Club and EHU, was a former board member of Keeney Village and the Senior Center,&nbsp;former co-director of the Trego County Food Pantry,&nbsp;and&nbsp;crusade chairperson and former president of the Trego County Cancer unit,&nbsp;all in WaKeeney.Survivors include four daughters, Cheri Watson and husband Gary, Springfield, MO; Joleen Nimz and husband Mark, WaKeeney, KS; Jeanine Welli and husband Mike, Wichita, KS; and Rhonda York and husband Dave, Leavenworth, KS; a sister, Ilene Jones, Springfield, MO; 9 grandchildren and 13 great-grandchildren.&nbsp;She was preceded in death by her parents, husband,&nbsp;and son,&nbsp;Darryl Reeder.Visitation will&nbsp;be&nbsp;held&nbsp;from 5:00-7:00 PM Sunday,&nbsp;June&nbsp;5, 2022, at Schmitt Funeral Home, 336 N. 12th St., WaKeeney, KS.&nbsp;A celebration of Lavonne’s life will be held at 10:30 AM on&nbsp;Monday,&nbsp;June 6&nbsp;at&nbsp;the First United Methodist Church, 500 Summit Avenue,&nbsp;with burial following at the WaKeeney Cemetery.Memorials may be made to the&nbsp;WaKeeney&nbsp;First United Methodist Church&nbsp;or the American Cancer Society. Donations to the organizations may be sent to Schmitt Funeral Home, 336 N 12thSt. WaKeeney, KS, 67672.Condolences may be left for the family by visiting www.schmittfuneral.com