George D. Corn

George D. Corn died Friday, December 2, 2011 at Lawrence Presbyterian Manor at the age of 99. A Celebration of Life will be held at Rumsey-Yost Funeral Home on Saturday, December 10 at 10:00 a.m. A gathering of family and friends will be held Friday, December 9, from 7:00 to 9:00 p.m. at the Funeral Home.

George was born northeast of Oskaloosa, KS on February 2, 1912, the eldest child of Edith (Reese) and Ray R. Corn. At the age of 2, George’s father took a job with the railroad. For a year and a half, the family followed across Kansas in a covered wagon where they settled for a time in Graham County. They returned to the Douglas county area where he attended Pinckney school. He graduated from Baldwin High School in1930. George attended Baker University where he boxed and was a member of Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity.

In 1934, he married Beulah Bell. They had two daughters, Sandra and Patricia. After attending Snyder Beauty College, he and his mother started Corn’s Studio of Beauty at the present site of Wheatfields Bakery. He enlisted in the Army Air Corps and served from 1942 to 1946 as a Radio Specialist. He and Beulah divorced and in 1946 he married Margaret Tipton in Plainview, Texas. In 1948 they returned to Lawrence where they had two daughters, Lynn and Luann. George was a Lawrence businessman for 37 years. He was a member of the First United Methodist Church, Lakeview Fishing and Shooting Assn., and Sertoma International where he received Sertoman of the Year in 1985. He was an Officer/Board Member of Douglas County Trail Riders, Kansas Cutting Horse Assn., and Northeast Kansas Quarter Horse Assn. George became a much sought after judge of horse shows throughout northeast Kansas.

Upon retirement he began working part time at the Orchards Executive Golf Course which allowed him to renew his lifelong love of golf. He was many times state champion Senior Olympics Golfer, and represented Kansas at the National Senior Olympics in St. Louis, Baton Rouge, San Antonio, and Tucson. He played in the Orchards Men’s Senior League until the age of 98.

He was preceded in death by his wife Margaret; his parents; two brothers, Francis Ray Corn; Clyde Leroy Corn; sister Emmalou Anglin.; a grandson, Corben John Saunders, and a son-in-law, John Phillip Saunders. He is survived by his daughters: Patricia Monroe and husband Kenneth of Westland, MI; Sandra Blume and husband Budd of Oaxaca, Mexico; Lynn Saunders, Lawrence; and Luann Crist, Perry. Grandchildren: Dustin and Colleen Crist, Chesapeake, VA; Loren and Margaret Saunders, Kansas City, MO; David Bommelje, Scott and Sherrie Bommelje, and Kay Moore, all of Charlotte, NC.; Tammy and Bill Neighbor, Amhurst, OH; Lisa and Scott Dorow, Belleville, MI; Anna and Steve Bossidis, Canton, MI; and fifteen great grandchildren.

George will be remembered as an avid outdoorsman, for his love of his family, friends, and the Jayhawks. It can be said that George “birdied” life.

Memorials are suggested to Douglas County Visiting Nurses and Hospice, or Lawrence Presbyterian Manor Memorial Golf Tournament Fund, in care of the funeral home.