Freda Clara Kachel

Freda Clara Kachel, age 89, Nevada, died Thursday, Jan. 13, 2005, at St. John's Regional Medical Center, Joplin, following a short illness. She was born May 18, 1915, in Lamar, to True Ellis Gardner and Minta Craig Gardner. She married Virgil S. Kachel on Aug. 30, 1936, in Nevada. He preceded her in death in 1991.

Freda was born in Lamar, and grew up in Nevada. She graduated from Nevada High School in 1935. She and her husband lived in Charleston, S.C., from 1941 to 1945 while Virgil worked at the Navy Yard. She joined the Red Cross in Nevada in 1957 and was a trainer of the Red Cross Volunteers. She was the first president of the Gray Ladies. She worked as a switchboard supervisor at Nevada State Hospital for 21 years until her retirement in 1979. She was a member of the First Baptist Church, and the Order of the Eastern Star Chapter 53 of Nevada.

Survivors include her son, Ted Kachel and his wife Nancy, of Tulsa, Okla.; three grandchildren, Rosa Kachel Cousins and her husband, Steve, Oologah, Okla., Samantha Kachel, Tulsa, Okla., and Daniel Kachel, Portland, Ore.; one great-grandson, Kevin Kachel, Oologah, Okla.; one brother-in-law, Ray Maxwell, Nevada; and one nephew, Ray Forrest Maxwell, Vancouver, B.C., Canada. In addition to her husband, Virgil, she was preceded in death by her parents; and one twin sister, Theda Bara Maxwell, who died in 1995.

Funeral services will be held at 11 a.m., Monday, Jan. 17, at the First Baptist Church in Nevada, with Dr. William Cox officiating. Interment will follow at Newton Burial Park, Nevada. Friends may call now and until 10 a.m., Monday at Ferry Funeral Home, Nevada. The family will receive friends at the funeral home Sunday between 4 and 6 p.m.

Those who wish may contribute to Baptist Hill, Mount Vernon, Mo., First Baptist Church of Nevada, or the Pallative Care Unit of St. John's Regional Medical Center, Joplin, in care of Ferry Funeral Home, Nevada.