Mary Cole Budde
Farm wife and homemaker Mary Cole Budde, 102, died July 31at Halstead.
She was born Dec. 25, 1909, to Harry and Nellie Cole on their farm at Florence. After jobs as a housekeeper and briefly as a Harvey Girl in Dodge City, she married farmer Fred Budde and resided in rural Peabody from the 1930s. After Fred’s death, she married his widowed brother, Frank, in 1982. She was a member of Zion Lutheran Church, Newton, and its women’s groups into her 90s.
She is survived by two daughters, Mary Kathryn Esau of Newton and Janice Sharp of Valley Center; five grandchildren, two great-grandchildren, and one great-great-grandchild.
She was preceded in death by her husband, Frank; four sisters, Betty Whitcomb, Florence Schmidt, Inez Byler and Anne Walter; and three brothers, Bill, George, and Victor Cole.
Services were Monday. Burial was at Walton Cemetery.
Memorial funds have been established with Zion Lutheran Church and St. Andrew’s Lutheran Church, Wichita.
Last modified Aug. 9, 2012