Mary Lois Farley Willis, devoted and beloved wife, mother, grandmother, aunt, friend and teacher passed away Tuesday, July 29, 2008.
Visitation will be at Old Mission Mortuary, 3424 E. 21st Street from 4:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. Friday, August 1. Family will be present from 6 - 8 p.m.
A Memorial Service will be held at 11:00 a.m., Saturday, August 2 at Fairmount United Christian Church of Christ, 1650 Fairmount in Wichita.
Mary was born on August 18, 1910 in Indianola, Iowa to George Thomas Farley and Margaret Mace (Fortney) Farley. She was the fourth of their five children. Mary attended Hawthorne School and Indianola High School, graduating in 1929. She attended Simpson College in Indianola from 1929 through 1931, where she became a member of Pi Beta Phi, The Women's athletic Association ( she played soccer) and one of the literary societies on campus, which were social clubs. She transferred to Iowa State Teachers College ( now University of Northern Iowa) in Cedar Falls, Iowa, graduating with a Bachelor's degree in Early and Elementary Education. She taught first grade and kindergarten in Mariensdale, Melcher, Washington and Clinton, Iowa.
During the war she trained as a nurse's aide and worked in local hospitals.
Mary met Earl Dale Willis at a school box supper in Melcher, Iowa. Over several early years they stayed in touch and, in June of 1943, Mary took the train to San Angelo, Texas where Earl was stationed at Goodfellow Army Air Corps base. They were married at the San Angelo First Baptist Church on June 14, 1943.
That fall Mary taught a first grade class of 36 children whom the district had more or less given up on. Many of them were immigrant workers. She bought books and other supplies with her own money and was determined to teach those children everything she could.
David Earl was born to Mary and Earl in San Angel on November 2, 1944.
After the war the family moved to Pryor, Oklahoma where Jane Margaret was born on June 29, 1946.
Earl graduated from the Spartan School of Aeronautics in Pryor.
The family then moved to Indianola, Iowa where Elizabeth May was born on May 2, 1950.
In 1952 the family moved to Wichita, Kansas, where Earl went to work at Boeing Aircraft Company.
In 1955, when Elizabeth started Kindergarten, Mary went back too, starting with the mornings kindergarten at Sunnyside Elementary. She went on to teach at Jefferson, Carter, Mueller and Buckner Elementaries before she took a break to earn her Master's Degree in Education from Wichita State University in 1971. She then taught one of the Head Start Pilot Programs in the summer of 1964 at Fairmount School.
Mary was a deeply spiritual person in her own uniquely individual way and her church relationships were always central to her life. She was a member of Old Manor Baptist Church from 1952 to 1970. About 1970 she joined Fairmount Congregational United Church of Christ.
mary was a member of the Fairmount Library Club; Delta Kappa Gamma, an education honorary fraternity; and the AAUW Stichery Group and Book Club.
mary and Earl were married almost 54 years when Earl died in 1997. She was also preceded in death by her brothers, Ardis Thomas Farley and Erl Edward Farley and her sister Ruth Elizabeth Hall.
Mary is survived by a brother, Bruce Silas Farley, Louisville, Kentucky; son David Willis (Dianne Burke) Los Angeles, California; daughter Jane Johnston (John) Lawrence, Kansas; daughter Elizabeth Willis (Tim Henry) Wichita, Kansas; granddaughter Cara Johnston Firestone (jim) and great-grandson, Gavin Patrick Firestone, Austin Texas; grandsons Andrew Johnston (Lindsay) Pearland, Texas; Oliver Sowards (Natalie) Chicago, Illinois; grandson Elliott Sowards (Holly Gottshalk) Lawrence, Kansas; and many generations of nieces and nephews in the Farley family and the Willis family.
Mary was an inspiration and a joy in so many ways to her family and her friends and all her students throughout the years.
Mary Lois Farley Willis will be deeply missed and lovingly remembered.
In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to Hospice Care of Kansas, 808 South hillside, Wichita, Kansas 67211, Fairmount United Church of Christ, 1650 Fairmount Street, Wichita, Kansas 67208, and Downing Children's Garden at Botanica the Wichita Gardens, 701 North Amidon, Wichita, Kansas 67203.
Condolences can be sent to the family on this website.