Wilma Ellen Sullivan

Wilma Ellen Sullivan, 90, a former resident of rural Hume, Mo., died Wednesday, Dec. 31, 2014, at the Country View Nursing Home, in Prescott, Kan., following a lengthy illness. She was born Feb. 8, 1924, in Sheldon, Mo., the daughter of George Ford and Sylvia Hoover Ford. Wilma was a 1942 graduate of the Sheldon High School. She married Hirchel Sullivan on April 12, 1943, in Sheldon. Wilma worked for Key Work Clothes and as a substitute cook at the Hume school, but mainly enjoyed the farm life that she and Hirchel built south of Hume. She was involved in reorganizing the Underwood Cemetery in 1970. She retired from the secretary/treasurer position in 2008, due to illness. She served on the election board for many years and was a member of the West Liberty United Methodist Church. She loved her family dearly and enjoyed playing the piano, singing and later in life going to dances with her special friend, Roy Umphemour.

Survivors include her two daughters, Virginia Durbin and husband, Jess, of Fulton, Kan., and Karen Irwin and husband, Everett, of Hume. She is also survived by 11 grandchildren, Jesse, Doug, Ray Maria and Harold Durbin, Carrie, Jason and Jeffrey Irwin and Cathie Wooldridge; 25 great-grandchildren and two great-great-grandchildren. Also surviving are a sister, Luella Driskel, of Lamar, Mo.; and a brother, Walter Ford, of Sheldon. Her husband, Hirchel, preceded her in death on Jan. 12, 1996. She was also preceded in death by three sisters, Faye Stump, Corine Bogart, and Alice Kicenski; a brother, Henry Dean Ford; a grandson, Joe Durbin; and a special friend, Roy Umphenour.

Pastor Tom Mullins and Rhonda Headley will conduct funeral services at 10:30 a.m., today, at the West Liberty United Methodist Church. Burial will follow in the Underwood Cemetery near Hume. The family received friends from 6 to 8 p.m., Monday, at the Cheney Witt Chapel.

Memorials are suggested to the Underwood Cemetery Association and may be left in care of the Cheney Witt Chapel, 201 S. Main, P.O. Box 347, Fort Scott, KS 66701.

Words of remembrance may be submitted to the online memory wall at www.cheneywitt.com.