Hope Spain
Hope Louise Spain, 96, died April 14, 2006, at Marion Manor, Marion.
Born Oct. 17, 1909, at Cedar Point, she was the daughter of C. Ray and Lulu (Pratt) Patton. She was raised in southeast Marion County.
She attended Maur's Hill Rural School and Wonsevu Rural School. She was a 1927 graduate of Burns High School.
She attended normal school and received a teaching certificate, teaching at Chase County Rural School District 47, near the Elk community, in 1927-28.
On May 9, 1928, she married Fred Koch. They lived in the Elk community before moving to Florence in 1935.
In 1955, they moved to Marion.
She was a telephone operator for Southwestern Bell in Florence, Marion, and Newton for 22 years. She retired in 1964.
Her husband died March 10, 1973.
On July 9, 1978, she married G.R. "Jack" Spain. They lived on his farm in the Middle Creek valley near Elk in Chase county. In the late 1990s, they moved to Marion.
She was preceded in death by her parents; husband, Fred; son-in-law, Max Krause; great-grandson; two brothers, Marion Patton and Chad Patton; and two sisters, Ruth Jantzen and Maria Bond.
Survivors include her husband, Jack of Marion; four daughters, Ruth LuJean Krause of Emporia; Loma and Don Frederick, Hutchinson; Glenda and Jack Taylor, Marion; and Marylyn and Max Blanding, Wichita; 12 grandchildren; 33 great-grandchildren; and 15 great-great-grandchildren.
Funeral services were held Monday afternoon at Eastmoor United Methodist Church, Marion, with the Revs. John Goering and Bob Priest officiating.
Burial was in Hillcrest Cemetery, Florence.
A memorial fund has been established with the Florence Historical Society.
