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Russell Sawyer
OXFORD – Russell R. Sawyer, 80, of Oxford, died Feb. 4, 2002, at Via Christi Regional Medical Center-St. Francis Campus, Wichita.
Services will be at 10:30 a.m. Friday at the First Baptist Church. The Rev. Curtis Fike will officiate. Burial will be in Oxford Cemetery.
Friends may call at Oxford Funeral Service until 8 tonight.
A memorial has been established with the First Baptist Church. Contributions may be made through the funeral home.
Sawyer was born Jan. 6, 1922, near Drury, to Mabel (Miller) and French W. Sawyer. He was raised in the Drury area of Sumner County and attended Alton Grade School and Pink Rural School near Wellington.
A farm accident in 1935 resulted in the loss of his left arm. Despite the loss, he helped support his mother and siblings by selling pins at a bowling alley, baling hay, delivering the Wellington newspaper and selling his mother's homemade bread and rolls to area merchants. He didn't graduate with his high school class of 1940 even though he had enough credits.
On Feb. 14, 1943, he married Charlotte Holman in Reno, Nev.
During World War II he worked as a welder at Kaiser Shipbuilding Yard 3 in Oakland, Calif. He later worked as a chauffeur at Strother Field.
Sawyer worked for Boeing in Wichita before he and Elbert Feaster began Feaster-Sawyer Two-Way Communications in Oxford. Eventually there were branches in Wichita and Great Bend. Sawyer retired in 1985.
A member of the Oxford First Baptist Church, he was the sound system technician and served on the board of trustees and the finance committee. While a member of the Sumner County Genealogical and Historical Society, Sawyer compiled and published a book, “The Life of a Civil War Soldier.”
Sawyer served on the national advisory board of Radio Corporation of America for many years. He was a coach and board member for the Sunflower Baseball League in Wellington and started the Babe Ruth baseball program in Oxford.
An infant daughter, Sandra Kay, preceded him in death.
Survivors include his wife, Charlotte Sawyer, Oxford; three sons, Dennis Sawyer, Oxford, Bob Sawyer, Wichita, and Randy Sawyer, Caldwell; a daughter, Donna Beiter, Goddard; five brothers, Bill, Richard and Kenneth Sawyer, all of Oxford, Jack Sawyer, Mesquite, Texas, and Don Sawyer, Medford, Okla.; two sisters, Patricia Ostrander and Betty Witte, both of Oxford; nine grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.
Eldearia Smith
Services for Ena Eldearia Smith were held at 2 p.m. Feb. 6, 2002, in Colonial Chapel of Miles Funeral Service. The Rev. John Paulin officiated. Burial was in Cambridge Cemetery.
Alberta McChesney was the pianist. Mary Lou Ashcraft sang “His Eye Is on the Sparrow.”
Honorary casket bearers were Herb Brunton, Armand Hillier, Charles and John Kielhorn, Barney and Bob Lundy and Neil and Randall Watt.
Casket bearers were grandsons David and Neil Hull, Sam Ives and Aaron, Warren and Alan Smith.
Memorials have been established with the Cambridge Presbyterian Church and Winfield Rest Haven.
Miles Funeral Service was in charge of arrangements.
Orville Strohl
The Rev. Dr. C. Orville Strohl, 93, of Winfield, former president of Southwestern College, died Feb. 5, 2002, at William Newton Hospital.
A memorial service will be held at 2 p.m. Saturday at the First United Methodist Church. Burial services will be private.
Friends may call at Miles Funeral Service from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Friday. The family will greet friends from 7 to 9.
Memorials have been established with Southwestern College, Camp Horizon and the Iliff School of Theology. Contributions may be made through the college or funeral home.
Strohl was born Sept. 18, 1908, in Meade County, to Ida (Hayward) and Clarence Strohl. The family moved to Winfield in 1923.
Strohl graduated from Winfield High School in 1927 and from Southwestern College in 1931. He completed his master of theology degree in 1933 and spent a year working on his doctorate in theology before moving to Iowa in 1934.
On June 14, 1933, he married Helen Burgner. She died Feb. 2, 1989.
Strohl served as a pastor from 1934 to 1944 and was executive director of Christian Education for Methodism in Iowa from 1944 to 1953. Strohl also taught at Iowa Wesleyan College and Drake University.
Strohl became president of Southwestern College in 1954 and served for 18 1/2 years. During Strohl's tenure, 10 major buildings were added to the campus, the endowment was increased from $500,000 to $5 million and student enrollment increased. In the fall of 1960, Strohl was among a group of 12 Methodist college presidents that spent six weeks studying higher education in Russia, Germany, Czechoslovakia and Rome.
Strohl received two honorary degrees, one from Iowa Wesleyan College in 1946 and the other from Southwestern College in 1986.
He served on the board of William Newton Hospital for 14 years and was a member of the State Commission on Governmental Ethics in 1975-76. He was chairperson of the 1976 Bicentennial Commission for Winfield, and he was presented the First Citizen Award by First National Bank in 1993. He was elected to the “International Who's Who of Professionals” in 1995.
He was a Rotarian, and his family are Paul Harris Fellows. He also served 10 years on the Four Winds Girl Scout Council board of directors.
Strohl authored “Fifty Years to Shape a Dream,” “Reflections Upon 86 Years of Life,” “The 7th Age Speaks” and “Inspirational History of First United Methodist Church.” He helped write curricula for the General Board of Education of Methodism and published other articles including “Brief History of Southwestern College 100th Anniversary.”
On Oct. 7, 1990, he married Marjorie Watts, and the couple made their home in Winfield.
Survivors include his wife, Marjorie Strohl, Winfield; a son, Rodney Neal Strohl, Arlington, Texas; two daughters, Sheryl Jeanne Holt, Phoenix, and Helen Joanne Darfler, Lakewood, Colo.; a stepson, Curtis Watts, Winfield; a stepdaughter, Marjorie Houser, Texas; nine grandchildren and 10 great-grandchildren.
Claude Stratton
HOWARD – Claude Eugene Stratton, 84, of Howard, died Feb. 5, 2002, from injuries received in a fire at his home.
Services will be at 2 p.m. Friday in Grace Lawn Cemetery. Pastor Robin Haines will officiate.
A memorial has been established as the Claude E. Stratton Memorial Fund. Contributions may be made through Zimmerman Funeral Home.
Stratton was born July 28, 1917, in Woden, Iowa, to Catherin Agnes (Montgomery) and Clyde Eugene Stratton. He graduated from high school in Iowa.
During World War II, he served in the U.S. Army.
Stratton owned and operated a catering business in California and Wichita for many years. In 1983 he became disabled from injuries received in an automobile accident and moved to Howard.
Stratton was employed as a newspaper carrier for the Independence Daily Reporter and the Wichita Eagle for several years.
Survivors include his wife, Olga Stratton, Seattle; his companion, Louise Clark, Howard; a son, Jerry Stratton, Morgan Hills, Calif.; three daughters, Darlene Marcus, Puerto Viarta, Mexico, and Loraine Stratton and Lucille Rodrigues, both of Seattle; a sister, Rozella Hiatte, Galesburg, Ill., and several grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
Gary Fruits
PONCA CITY – Gary Joe Fruits, 58, of Ponca City, formerly of Winfield, died Jan. 31, 2002, at Baptist Memorial Hospital in Oklahoma City following a lengthy illness.
A memorial Mass was said at 9 a.m. Feb. 4 at St. Mary's Catholic Church in Ponca City. Trout Funeral Home was in charge of arrangements.
Fruits, son of Esther Jayne (Bullock) and Jack Fruits, was born and raised in Winfield. He graduated from Winfield High School in 1961.
After graduation he entered the U.S. Navy. He retired from the Navy in 1983 and returned to Winfield, then moved to Ponca City after accepting a position as field engineer with Pelton Industries.
Survivors include his wife, Rosalie Fruits; sons, Reynaldo and Virgil; his mother, Esther Jayne Slagle; his father and stepmother, Jack and Dorothy Fruits; a sister, Cheryl Lyn Higgins; a brother, Timothy Fruits; three stepsisters, Hilda Sumner, Gretchen Kittelson and Rachel Cooper; a stepbrother, Danny Fruits; and three grandchildren.
Gladys Brown
Gladys Virginia Brown, 86, of Winfield, died Feb. 5, 2002, at Cumbernauld Village.
Cremation has taken place. A memorial service will be held at 10 a.m. Monday at Cumbernauld Village. Swisher-Taylor & Morris Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements.
Memorial contributions may be made to any charity.
Brown was born in Halstead to Louise Wilhelmena (Meyer) and Jacob Krehbiel. She graduated from Halstead High School in 1933.
In 1940, she graduated from St. Mary's School of Nursing in Winfield. Brown worked as a Trans World Airlines hostess and as a registered nurse for several years at William Newton Hospital and in private practice. She was a Girl Scout leader for many years.
On May 29, 1942, she married Dr. Harwin J. Brown. He died Feb. 1, 1979.
Brown moved to Sun City West, Ariz., in 1983 and lived there until June 2000 when she returned to Winfield to live at Cumbernauld Village.
Survivors include a daughter, Anna C. Planchon, Bennington, Okla.; a sister, Sylvia Ellis, Redondo Beach, Calif.; and two brothers, Karl Krehbiel, Owensboro, Ky., and Harold Krehbiel, Gunter, Texas. Elaine Brennan and Louise Baird, both of Winfield, are among her nieces and nephews.
George Duncan
George W. Duncan, 92, of Winfield, died Feb. 6, 2002, at Winfield Rest Haven.
Services will be at 10:30 a.m. Monday at Trinity Lutheran Church. Burial will be in Highland Cemetery.
Friends may call at Swisher-Taylor & Morris Funeral Home from 3 to 7 p.m. Sunday.
Memorials have been established with Trinity Lutheran Church and Winfield Rest Haven.
Duncan was born Feb. 8, 1909, in Liberty Township, to Alice Bertha (Greenshields) and Alvin Duncan. He was raised and educated in Cowley County.
On June 6, 1930, he married Fern Sargent in Arkansas City.
Duncan worked for the postal telegraph building a line from Arkansas City to Gallup, N.M. He also worked in Vermont three summers.
In 1933 he started building a dairy herd and delivered milk from the herd until 1961. He bought fat cattle and sold them until 1991 when he retired in ill health.
Duncan was a member of Trinity Lutheran Church, the Elks Lodge and United Commercial Travelers.
Survivors include his wife, Fern Duncan, Winfield.
