Thelma Maydene Wright

Thelma Maydene Wright, 87, former resident of Fort Scott, Kan., died Thursday, March 31, 2005, at the Prescott Country View Nursing Home. She was born Oct. 13, 1917, on a farm near Hume, the daughter of Aubrey Oliver and Georgia Ann Smith Pyle. She married John A. Wright on Sept. 28, 1940, in Fort Scott, Kan. He preceded her in death on Oct. 9, 2003.

She grew up in Bates County and graduated in 1936 from Richards High School. She and her husband lived in Deerfield, Fort Scott, Yakima, Wash., and in 1951, they moved to Garland, Kan. She was an Avon sales representative in the Garland and Fort Scott areas for many years. She worked as a cook at the Garland Elementary School and Diamond School and, for a short time, at the Fort Scott Community College cafeteria. She was a member of the Garland Thrift Circle Club for 50 years and a member of the Garland School Board for a number of years. She attended the Richards Christian Church and in later years the West Park Church of Nazarene in Fort Scott.

Survivors include two sons, LeRoy "Bud" Wright, Englevale, Kan., and Fred Wright, Fort Scott; four daughters, Joann Johnson, Edwards, Mo., Mary Jane Fisher, Fort Scott, Faye Phillips, Tulsa, Okla., and Jonna Lea Page, Mountain Home, Idaho. Also surviving are 16 grandchildren, 30 great-grandchildren, and one great-great-granddaughter. In addition to her husband, she was preceded in death by a brother and granddaughter.

The Rev. Jim Casselman will conduct funeral services at 11 a.m., Monday, April 4, in the Cheney Witt Chapel, Fort Scott, Kan. Burial will follow in Memory Gardens Cemetery in Fort Scott, Kan. The family will receive friends from 7-8 p.m., Sunday, in the Cheney Witt Chapel.

Memorials are suggested to either the American Heart Association or the American Cancer Society and may be sent to Cheney Witt Chapel, P.O. Box 347, Fort Scott, KS 66701.