Wilma "Jean" Charles

Wilma "Jean" Charles, 87, Emporia, Kan., passed away on Thursday, March 26, 2014, at Holiday Resort, in Emporia. She was born Jan. 20, 1927, in Lowell, Kan., to George Adams and Kitty (Hatton) Adams. She was married to Ellis Charles on Dec. 10, 1949, in Nevada.

Jean was raised in Pittsburg, Kan., and graduated from high school there in 1945. She attended nursing school in Pittsburg and worked a number of years as a private nurse in Springfield and later Kansas City, where she lived for 43 years. She also worked at J.C. Penney's stores in Grandview and at Ward Parkway in Kansas City.

Jean was a member of the Ladies Circle of the United Methodist Church in Grandview. She had lived in Emporia since 2012.

Survivors include her husband, Ellis, of Emporia; two daughters, Cheri Fletcher and her husband, Kevin, Manchester, Iowa, and Rhonda Jantzen and her husband, Jan, Emporia; three grandchildren, Nick Kimminau, Pittsburg, Pa., Rachel Kimminau, Orlando, Fla., and Jacob Kimminau, Wichita, Kan.; and several nieces and nephews.

Graveside services will be held at 11 a.m., Monday, March 31, at Balltown Cemetery, Horton, Mo. Friends may call now and until 10 a.m., Monday, at Ferry Funeral Home, Nevada.

View obituary and send condolences online at www.ferryfuneralhome.com.