ALL OBITUARIES ARE LISTED ALPHABETICALLY AND WILL REMAIN POSTED FOR SEVEN DAYS.
Donald Area Posted 3/7/14
Donald Wayne “Don” Area, age 86, of Manhattan, died March 5, 2014, at Meadowlark
Hills Collins House.
He was born July 16, 1927, in Olsburg, Kansas, the son of Babe and Alice (Axelton)
Area. Don graduated from Randolph High School.
He served for 4 years in the United States Navy from 1945 to 1949.
He worked for 37 years for Kansas Power and Light and retired as the District
Supervisor for the gas service in 1988.
Don was a member of the Veterans of Foreign Wars Post # 1786, American Legion Post
# 17, Masonic Lodge # 16 AF & AM, ISIS Shrine, and the Stagg Hill Golf Course. Don
enjoyed the senior golf tournaments, fishing, boating, camping, family summer vacations
and the Kansas State football games of which he was a season ticket holder for many
years. For several years he enjoyed attending the KPL retiree’s group functions.
On August 6, 1950, in Olsburg, Kansas, he was married to Louise Webster. Mrs. Area
survives of Manhattan. Additional survivors include two sons: Steve Area and his wife
Lois of Cottonwood, AZ, and Blake Area and his wife Brenda of Manhattan; six brothers:
Dean Area of Salina, KS, Roger Area of Pine Bluff, AR, Byron Area of Big River, CA,
Bob Area of Angleton, TX, Brad Area of Corona, CA, and Bryce Area of Salina, KS;
eleven grandchildren: Kappi Scheibe, Krystal Laws, Lacy Hileman, Ashley Heptig,
Blaine Area, Colby Area, Danielle Area, Levi, Brent, David and Michael Hatfield; and 20 great-grandchildren.
Don was preceded in death by his parents and one sister, Mary Rosell.
Funeral services will be held at 1:30 P.M. Monday at the Yorgensen-Meloan-Londeen
Funeral Home with Reverend Dr. Keith Wiens officiating. Interment will follow in the
Olsburg Cemetery at Olsburg, Kansas.
The family will receive friends from 4:00 until 5:30 P.M. Sunday at the Yorgensen-
Meloan-Londeen Funeral Home.
Online condolences may be left for the family through the funeral home website at
www.ymlfuneralhome.com.
Memorial contributions may be made to the Meadowlark Hills Good Samaritan Fund.
Contributions may be left in care of the Yorgensen-Meloan-Londeen Funeral Home,
1616 Poyntz Avenue, Manhattan, KS 66502.
Henry Berg Posted 3/3/14
Henry Mitchell Berg, 82, of Topeka, Kansas, died Sunday, March 2, 2014, at Stormont-Vail Health Care in Topeka. He was a life-long resident of the area.
Henry was born March 19, 1931, north of Blaine, Kansas, the son of Otto and Hattie Fischer Berg. He attended local country schools and graduated in 1949 from Westmoreland High School. He then entered the United States Army were he served as an air defense artillery gunner during the Korean Conflict.
Henry worked for over twenty years as an independent insurance agent for several insurance companies, including Interstate and Woodland. Prior to his insurance career, Henry worked in the grocery business in Hiawatha and then owned, and operated, Berg’s IGA in Westmoreland. He enjoyed gardening, working puzzle books, reading, and in his early years, fishing. He loved attending family activities and sporting events and he was a K-State fan. Henry was known for taking long drives and exploring all the back roads. He was an active member of Christ Lutheran Church in Topeka and served as an elder and treasurer. He then attended St. Johns Lutheran Church in Topeka.
Henry married Kathryn Onek on April 4, 1954, in Hiawatha, Kansas. She survives at their home.
He is also survived by his daughters, Anne Hunter (Gene), Topeka, Lynnette Berg (Margaret Carreno), Topeka, Jeanette Torok (Doug), Olathe, Katy Lundgren (James), Topeka; his sons, Tim Berg and Scott Berg (Becky), both of Topeka; three grandchildren, Mitchell Bowers, Addie Bowers, and David Hall, and two great-grandchildren, Tyler and Nicole. He was preceded in death by his parents, a brother, William Berg, and sister, Louise Dunmire.
Funeral services will be held at 1:00 p.m., Friday, March 7, 2014, at Campanella-Evans Mortuary in Wamego. Pastor Glenn Bitter will be officiating. Burial, with military honors, will follow at Berg Cemetery north of Blaine. The family will greet friends on Friday, prior to the service, starting at 11:00 a.m. They suggest memorial contributions to the Johnson Cancer Research Center at K-State or St. Johns Lutheran Church of Topeka, and those may be sent in care of the mortuary. Online condolences may be made at www.campanellafuneral.com
Joan McNeil Posted 3/6/14
Joan Newcomer McNeil, a long-time resident of Manhattan, died Friday evening, Jan. 10, at the Meadowlark Hills nursing home after a lengthy illness.
Joan Catherine (Newcomer) Sistrunk McNeil, 84, of Manhattan, a beloved wife, sister, mother, mother-in-law, grandmother, and great-grandmother, passed on to her heavenly home.
Born in El Dorado, Kansas, April 27, 1929, to Mable and L.W. “Newc” Newcomer, she was the eldest of three children. She showed an early talent for writing. At the age of 17, she had her story, “His Armor All Shining”, published in Seventeen Magazine, which won her a place as a columnist for her local paper. “Joni”, as her immediate family called her, used the name, “Joni’s Notes,” to pen folksy descriptions of home life featuring ”Pop” (Newc) ,”Mom” (Mable), “Kid Brother” or “KB” (Graham), “Little Sis” (Janet), and later her husband and four young children. These columns were published in various newspapers around the country between 1941 and 1971 and copies of many issues later donated to the Kansas State Historical Society.
Joan left El Dorado for college in 1947 and majored in Technical Journalism at Kansas State University between 1947-1951 where, among many awards and honors, she helped edit the Royal Purple yearbook and The Collegian campus newspaper. As a freshman, she pledged to Pi Beta Phi and was an active member of the sorority. She wrote one of their well-loved songs and created and directed many musical and comedy skits.
After graduation, she landed a stint in New York as an editorial assistant for a publishing company and then, moved to Gatlinburg, Tennessee to accept a position as Assistant Director and Creative Writing Instructor at the Pi Phi Settlement School. Following this, Joan attended the University of Minnesota, graduating in 1956 with a master’s degree in Educational Psychology. From there, she interviewed and was immediately hired as the first dean of women’s services and the Student Activities Advisor at the California State Polytechnic College of San Luis Obispo in Calif. While at “CalPoly,” she met Jim Sistrunk, whom she married in 1957. Four children soon followed, and in 1964 they moved back to her home state of Kansas, and settled in Manhattan where Jim pursued an M.S. degree in Horticulture and later a doctorate at KSU. During this time, Joan was hired at K-State as a part-time research assistant at the university’s Extension Department, and then at the K-State Center for Student Development and after the death of her husband in 1969, as an instructor in the Department of Family and Child Development.
She quickly developed a devoted following as a result of teaching classes on adolescence, family and life cycles, writing many of the textbooks used in the courses. Among her many other accomplishments, she developed and taught a new class dealing with death & bereavement. In 1972, she was one of four faculty members to receive an award for excellence for her teaching and service.
In 1973 Joan married a prominent local pediatrician, Dr. Elbert D. (“Mac”) McNeil and she welcomed his four step-children and a dog, combining with her own four children and two cats! Some time following, Joan received her PhD from the College of Education, and in 1980, building upon her research from her doctoral dissertation Young Mothers’ Communication About Death with Their Children, she co-authored an influential publication entitled Adolescence and Death. Many articles, textbooks, workbooks, editorships, along with other professional activities and accolades continued. This included being named “Outstanding Contributor to the Field” in 1982 for the Forum for Death Education and Counseling, for which she served as President 1982-1984. As a nod to her academic career, she penned the following “Epitaph” in May of 1984:
Here lies Joan Newcomer Sistrunk McNeil,
A teacher, mother, daughter, wife,
Who taught many others about death
And how to live a fuller life.
Now she’s researching the Great Beyond,
And hopes to publish what she’s found.
The opportunity she couldn’t pass
To perish first and publish last!
Joan retired from Kansas State University in 1988 and Mac retired from his Medical Practice in 1989, where they had many happy years together dining out, traveling, and rooting for their favorite college sports teams, the Wildcats (her) and the Jayhawks (him), before his death in Dec. 2006.
Joan was a supporter of the arts, the theatre, the music, the culture, indeed-the soul and heartbeat of the town. She was an active member of the Congregational Church of Manhattan. Between 1987 and 1996, she wrote, directed and performed in the popular yearly church musical dinner theatre skits to benefit the church’s outreach and growth. She also donated a rank of Celeste pipes for the church organ in memory of her mother, Mable Newcomer, who was herself a well-beloved organist.
Joan was also very active in the Manhattan Civic Theatre and the Manhattan Arts Center. She sat on the Board, chaired committees, helped write and direct plays, organize fundraisers, and many other activities. She even donated an entire set of more comfortable theatre chairs for the whole audience area.
It is very difficult to distill into just a few columns a lifetime of giving, creativity, passion, soul and spirit that was Joan Catherine Newcomer Sistrunk McNeil. She loved life. She loved her friends. She loved her family. She will be greatly missed by so many. The family would like to thank Meadowlark Hills and the numerous faithful caregivers over the years who showed dedicated love and care to Joan during her time there. Much appreciation also goes to University Christians Church and the ladies group for their faithful prayers and loving actions showered on Joan which sustained her and her family as well.
Joan’s first husband, Jim Sistrunk, preceded her in death on Sept. 11, 1969 and her second husband, Elbert D. McNeil, preceded her in death on Dec. 3, 2006, as did her brother, Graham Newcomer, on July 31, 1999. Survivors include a sister, Janet Mitchell of Titus, Alabama; a son, Ted Sistrunk and his wife Frizz Allen of Phoenix, Arizona; a daughter, Holly Friesen and her husband Rob of Manhattan; a daughter, Wendy Sistrunk of Independence, Missouri; a son, Tim Sistrunk of Chico, California; a step-daughter, Nancy Meidinger and her husband Bob of Olathe, Kansas; a step-son, John McNeil of Leawood, Kansas; a step-son, Tom McNeil and his wife Marie of Corpus Christie, Texas; a step-daughter, Susan McCaskill and her husband Jerry of Tulsa, Oklahoma; eleven grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.
Cremation is planned with memorial services to be held at 10:30 AM, Saturday, March 22nd, at the First Congregational Church (UCC) in Manhattan, Kansas, with Reverend Dr. Patty Brown-Barnett officiating. Private family inurnment will be in the Sunrise Cemetery in Manhattan.
Online condolences may be left for the family through the funeral home website at www.ymlfuneralhome.com.
Memorial contributions may be made to Homecare & Hospice, Inc. Contributions may be left in care of the Yorgensen-Meloan-Londeen Funeral Home, 1616 Poyntz Avenue, Manhattan, KS 66502.
Jane Peterson Posted 3/4/14
Jane L. Peterson, age 56, of St. George, Kansas, was found deceased February 28, 2014, at Manhattan, Kansas.
She was born June 26, 1957, in Wamego, Kansas, the daughter of Mark and Isabel (Gros) Torrey, and had been a lifetime area resident.
Jane graduated from St. George High School in 1975, and then from Manhattan Area Vo-Tech in 1976.
Jane worked for 35 years at Kansas State University as a Senior Administrative Assistant for the Physics Department.
She enjoyed sewing, quilting, and decorating her home. The time she treasured the most was the time spent with her children.
On April 1, 1989, in Manhattan, she was married to Monty Peterson. Monty survives of the home. Additional survivors include her three children: Audrey Peterson of St. George, Torrey Peterson and Benjamin Peterson both of Manhattan; her mother, Isabel Torrey-Mondt of St. George; four siblings: Carol Eichman of St. George, Ruth Cassity of Wamego, Steve Torrey and his wife Terry of St. George, and Dudley Torrey and his wife Denise of St. George; her mother and father in law, Glenda and Donald Peterson of Wamego; three brother and sister in laws: Randy and Jeannette Peterson of Wamego, and Joe Peterson of Portland, OR; and numerous nieces and nephews.
She was preceded in death by her father.
Cremation is planned with private family graveside services at the St. Joseph Cemetery at Flush, with Father Michael Peterson officiating.
The family will receive friends from 3:00 until 5:00 P.M. Saturday, March 8th, at the Yorgensen-Meloan-Londeen Funeral Home.
Online condolences may be left for the family through the funeral home website at www.ymlfuneralhome.com.
Memorial contributions may be made to the American Parkinson’s Disease Association. Contributions may be left in care of the Yorgensen-Meloan-Londeen Funeral Home, 1616 Poyntz Avenue, Manhattan, KS 66502.
John H. Schmeal Jr. Posted 3/6/14
John H. “Jack” Schmeal, Jr., age 65, of Olsburg, Kansas, died Monday March 3, 3014 at
the Mercy Regional Health Center in Manhattan.
He was born on February 28, 1949 in Newton, New Jersey, the son of John H. Schmeal
Sr. and Helen Grabinski. After graduating high school Jack joined the United States
Army. He served during the Vietnam War. Jack earned the honor of being a Green
Beret. He had the honor of being a casket bearer at the burial of President Eisenhower.
After his service time Jack was very active in the American Legion. He was a member
of the American Legion Pearce Keller Post 17 in Manhattan. Jack was the head of the
color guard for the American Legion. He also enjoyed being a volunteer firefighter in
Olsburg.
He was a loving man who cared for his family. Jack enjoyed being around his friends
and family visiting. He also enjoyed living on the farm and working hard at the daily
chores that is part of farm life.
Jack was preceded in death by his wife Connie Ivy Schmeal.
Survivors include his six sons: Michael Ahstedt, Stephen Ahstedt, Travise Schmeal,
Michael Schmeal, Josh Schmeal, and Ryan Schmeal; his daughter, Katlynn Schmeal; his
mother, Helene Beam; his four sisters: Kathy Smith, Margaret Kelly, Rosemary Schmeal,
and Lisa Gilliland, and his brother, Jimmy Bencivengo. Additional survivors include his
12 grandchildren, one great-grandchild and numerous nieces and nephews.
The family will greet friends during a visitation from 5:00 until 7:00 p.m. Monday,
March 10, 2014 at the American Legion Pearce Keller Post 17, 114 McCall Road,
Manhattan, Kansas.
Cremation will follow the visitation and private inurnment will be held at a later date.
Online condolences may be left for the family through the funeral home website at
www.ymlfuneralhome.com
Memorial funds in memory of Jack are suggested to the Jack Schmeal Memorial Fund.
Contributions may be left at the Farmers State Bank or also in care of the Yorgensen-
Meloan-Londeen Funeral Home, 1616 Poyntz Avenue, Manhattan, Kansas 66502.
