Deaths and funerals

Topeka Capital-Journal, The, Jun 30, 2001 by Capital-Journal

Russell Doudna

OZAWKIE --- Russell H. Doudna, 75, Ozawkie, died Wednesday, June 27, 2001, at an Oskaloosa nursing home.

Mr. Doudna had been a bus driver for many years. He worked for Laidlaw Transit in Topeka, and he had driven a school bus for the Perry-Lecompton Unified School District 343 in Perry. He also was a driver for the NEKCAP Head Start program in the Oskaloosa area. He was a chauffeur for the Lady Luck Casino in Bettendorf, Iowa. He was an Army Air Corps veteran of World War II. He served as a tail gunner in Japan, as a message center chief in Lansburg, Germany, and as a special courier during the war trials in Nuremberg, Germany.

He was born May 16, 1926, in Stacyville, Iowa, the son of Irvin Vern and Jessie Pearl Benton Doudna.

He attended Iowa Wesleyan College in Mount Pleasant, Iowa. He moved to Ozawkie from California in 1989.

Mr. Doudna was a member of Bicentennial Post No. 225 of the American Legion in Ozawkie. He also was a member of the Village Greens Men's Golf Club in Ozawkie.

He married Joan M. Blackwell Depoorter on Feb. 28, 1980, in Port Byron, Iowa. She survives.

Other survivors include two stepsons, Eric Depoorter, Tipton, Iowa, and Arthur Depoorter, East Moline, Ill.; four stepdaughters, Denise Michaels, New Windsor, Ill., Michelle Faris and Marcia Rosencutter, both of Ozawkie, and Joann DeWitt, Rapid City, Ill.; two sisters, Jessie Gail Adams, Blue Grass, Iowa, and Lavern M. VanSyoc, Buffalo, Iowa; 18 stepgrandchildren; and three stepgreat- grandchildren.

Graveside services with military honors conducted by the Ozawkie Post of the American Legion will be at 1:30 p.m. Monday at Leavenworth National Cemetery. Mr. Doudna will lie in state from 8 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Monday at Barnett Funeral Home in Oskaloosa.

Lee Holmes

BELLEVILLE --- Services will be at 10 a.m. today at Bachelor- Faulkner-Dart-Surber Funeral Chapel in Belleville for Lee Holmes, 81, Byron, Neb. He died Tuesday, June 26, 2001, at a Belleville hospital.

Mr. Holmes was a retired farmer.

He was born April 20, 1920, in Concordia, the son of Leslie and Bessie Stafford Holmes.

Mr. Holmes was a member of the Pentecostal Church.

He married Doris Steinman in May 1978. She died Aug. 8, 1992.

Survivors include two stepsons, Henry J. Steinman, Wichita, and Albert F. Steinman, Byron; two stepdaughters, Patricia A. Rhine, Hebron, Neb., and LaVae R. Lazerth, Wichita; two brothers, Kenneth Holmes, Waco, Texas, and Bill Holmes, Rosemond, Calif.; and 11 stepgrandchildren.

Burial will be in Washington Cemetery near Republic.

E. Jane Lowry

WETMORE --- E. Jane Lowry, 75, formerly of Wetmore, died Friday, June 29, 2001, at a Wichita retirement community.

Mrs. Lowry had been a bookkeeper for Commercial Mechanisms in Kansas City.

She was born Oct. 5, 1925, in Iowa Point, the daughter of Henry Alford and Malinda R. Muncie Hixson. She graduated from Hiawatha High School in 1943.

She married Elton Lee Lowry on Dec. 17, 1945, in Troy. He survives.

Other survivors include a son, Alan Lee Lowry, Kansas City, Mo.; a daughter, Linda Hain, Wichita; two sisters, Edith Palmer, Hayward, Calif., and Velma Thompson, Kansas City, Kan.; six grandchildren; and one great-granddaughter.

Services will be at 1 p.m. Monday at Mercer Funeral Home in Holton. Burial will be in Wetmore Cemetery. Visitation will be from 7 to 8 p.m. Sunday at the funeral home.

Memorial contributions may be made to Hospice Care of Kansas, 630 N. St. Francis, Wichita, 67214.

Erma Sipp

QUENEMO --- Erma Lee Sipp, 70, Quenemo, died Thursday, June 28, 2001, at her home.

Mrs. Sipp was a licensed practical nurse and had worked at Ottawa Retirement Village in Ottawa for many years.

She was born Jan. 4, 1931, in Texhoma, Okla., the daughter of Wiley Frederick and Leola Mae Gordon Redenbaugh. She lived in Topeka before she moved to Quenemo 34 years ago.

She married Dan J. Sipp on May 10, 1958, in Topeka. He survives.

Other survivors include a son, Daniel Sipp, Quenemo; four daughters, Barbara McMurdy and Diane Berry, both of Quenemo, Nancy Carpenter, Pomona, and Jane Belias, Gig Harbor, Wash.; five brothers, John Redenbaugh and Sherman Redenbaugh, both of Hutchinson, Wiley Redenbaugh, Lawrence, Elliott Redenbaugh, Wichita, and Bruce Redenbaugh, Dodge City; two sisters, Betty Black, in Texas, and Mary Hargrave, Haven; eight grandchildren; and three great-grandchildren.

Services will be at 10 a.m. Monday at Feltner Funeral Chapel in Lyndon. Burial will be in Oak Hill Cemetery in Quenemo. Mrs. Sipp will lie in state after 2 p.m. Sunday at the funeral chapel, where visitation will be from 4 to 5 p.m.

Memorial contributions may be made to the American Diabetes Association and sent in care of the funeral chapel.

Helen VanKeuren

LAWRENCE --- Services will be at 11 a.m. Monday at Warren- McElwain Mortuary in Lawrence for Helen L. VanKeuren, 80, Pittsburg. She died Thursday, June 28, 2001, at a Pittsburg hospital.

Mrs. VanKeuren worked for Hallmark Cards in Lawrence from 1958 until she retired in 1978. She earlier had worked for KPL in Lawrence.