Opal C. Loucks

Opal C. Loucks, 92, of Manhattan, KS, died Friday, May 4 at the Stoneybrook Retirement Community, Manhattan. She was born in 1915 near Hesston, KS, to Nathaniel and Arletta (Glover) Blosser. She was preceded in death by her parents and sisters Francis Patton of Morganville and Mary Louise of Wichita and brothers LaVerne of Florence, Bob of Wichita and Dick of Park City, and Rhonda Wenger, granddaughter, and Ezekiel Webber, great grandson. Mrs. Loucks was united in marriage to Martin Loucks of rural Hesston, KS in 1935. They started their married life as farmers. Just one year after their marriage they purchased an 80-acre farm seven miles south of Fredonia, KS where they lived for 60 years. After selling the farm, they lived nine-years at Madison Square Retirement Village, Fredonia and then 2 years at Stoneybrook Retirement Community. Opal attended Newton High School. Her joy was in reading. She had an impressive library of quality books. She wrote the column "Grace Notes" for the Fredonia Daily Herald in the mid-1950"s. She published poetry in several publications. She worked many years in the Wilson County Treasurer Office and later as manager for the Cable TV Office in Fredonia. Surviving loved ones who will miss her include her husband Martin; two daughters, Dorothy Petty and her two daughters, Rita Petty and Jana Petty all of Topeka, Becky Loucks of Eureka and her two sons, Rehan Zaidi and his wife, Jennifer, of West Windsor, NJ and their two children and Sha Zaidi of Long Branch, NJ; and two sons, Jim and his wife Lois and their two daughters, Linda Mae and Deanna Fairbanks and her husband, John, and three children all of Onaga, and Bill and his wife, Pat, of Manhattan and their two daughters, Beth Owen and her husband, Howard, and three children of Gig Harbour, WA and Pamela Loucks and her two children of Lawrence and one son, David, and his wife, Debbie, and their two children and two grandchildren, all of Phoenix. Opal"s only surviving in-law is Laura Blosser, sister-in-law, of Yates Center. Funeral services will be at Timmons Funeral Home, Fredonia, at 10:00 am, Wednesday, May 9, 2007, with Pastor Charlotte Coates of the First United Methodist Church officiating. Burial will follow immediately at the Koger/Cheatham Cemetery, eight miles south, two east and one-half north of Fredonia. Memorial donations for the Methodist Church may be sent to Timmons Funeral Home, PO Box 168, Fredonia, Kansas, 66736.