Services for Wiona Opal Brown, 94, will be held at 10 a.m. Saturday at Rumsey-Yost Funeral Home. Burial will follow in Oak Hill Cemetery.
Mrs. Brown died Thursday, November 15, 2012, at Allen County Hospital in Iola.
Wiona, or “Wi” as she was called by family and friends, was born on January 24, 1918, to Oscar I. and Hazel Goldsmith Beck in Melvern, Kansas. She attended school in rural Osage County. She excelled in spelling. As the oldest of nine children, she helped out on the family farm.
She married Lyman Lee Brown in Lawrence, Kansas, on August 4, 1939. They resided in Oakland, California, during World War II, and worked in the shipyards there. They also ran the Cozy Café in Burlingame, Kansas, in the early 1950s. Wiona worked in the food service department in the Burlingame school district until she moved to Lawrence in 1975. She then worked for USD 497 until she retired. Mr. Brown died in 1984. Wiona remained in Lawrence until 2010, when she moved to Iola to be closer to her daughter.
She was a member of the Corinthian Chapter #181 and Fidelity Chapter #38 of the Order of the Eastern Star. She was also a member of the Order of the White Shrine of Jerusalem Trinity Shrine No. 7 of Topeka.
Wiona was a fun-loving individual. She enjoyed playing games, especially bingo and dominoes, and watching the Kansas Jayhawks in football and basketball. She also had fun working with the children in the Age-to-Age Preschool at Windsor Place as well as the students in the Service Learning class at Iola Middle School.
Wiona will be missed by her daughter and son-in-law, Cynthia and Clayton Carr of LaHarpe and her loving granddaughters, Ashlee Carr and Amy Carr of Lawrence, and Amanda Carr of Topeka. Other survivors include her siblings, Ione “Hap” Monroe of Osage City, Velma “Crick” McMillin of Hoisington, Irene “Rene” Sattler of Newton, Russell Beck of Emporia, and Anita “Neet” Faulkner of Osage City and a large group of nieces and nephews. She was preceded in death by three brothers, Oscar (Bud), Elmer, and Freeman.
The family suggests memorials to the Lawrence Community Shelter or the Hope Center at the Topeka Rescue Mission.
Online condolences may be sent to www.rumsey-yost.com.
