Garnand Funeral Homes
Velda M. Sipes
January 24, 1913 - September 26, 2009
Elkhart, Kansas

Visitation: 10:00 AM until 8:00 PM, Thursday, October 01, 2009 at Garnand Funeral Home in Elkhart, Kansas.
Funeral Service: 10:00 AM, Friday, October 02, 2009 at Elkhart United Methodist Church in Elkhart Kansas with Pastor Bruce Ferguson and Pastor Jim Cunningham officiating.
Interment: Elkhart Cemetery in Elkhart, Kansas.

The funeral service for Velda M. Sipes who departed this life on Saturday, September 26, 2009 at Morton County Care Center will be held at the Elkhart United Methodist Church in Elkhart Kansas on Friday, October 2, 2009 at 10:00 AM. She was 96 years, 8 months, and 2 days old. Officiating at the service will be Pastor Bruce Ferguson and Pastor Jim Cunningham. Pallbearers will be: Bill Burns, Richard Hall, Thomas Morris, Billy Don Burns, David Morris, David Bruner, and J.D. Burroughs. Honorary pallbearers will be: Bob Arheart, Edgar White, and Ernest Williams. Some of her favorite songs will be played during the prelude. They include a medley of Gaither tunes: He Touched Me, Let’s Just Praise The Lord, You’re Something Special, There’s Just Something About That Name, Something Beautiful, Because He Lives, Fill My Cup Lord, His Name is Wonderful, Just a Closer Walk With Thee, Living For Jesus, Through It All, Surely Goodness and Mercy, and The Family of God. Songs Played during the viewing of the body will be: Star of the East, Somewhere My Love, Hawaiian Wedding Song, the Entertainer, and repeated Somewhere My Love. Music will be provided by pianist Nancy Roberts. He Touched Me and Amazing Graze will be sang by soloist Mindy Dougherty. The congregation will join in singing How Great Thou Art.

Velda was the second child born to Alphious Bradbury and Sarah Elizabeth Rutherford Morse on January 24, 1913, in Greenwood County, near Severy, Kansas where she also grew up. She graduated from Howard High School in 1930. After high school she attended Wichita Business College. She was known as a tax practitioner and bookkeeper. Following graduation she worked for Mr. Allen E. Smoll in his insurance business. After she moved to Western Kansas, he would send Velda and her girls Black Jack gum. She met and married Don Martin Sipes at the United Methodist Church in Wichita, Kansas. He had come to Wichita from Manter, Kansas, to work in the Boeing Plant during the war. They were married on October 1, 1943. They established a home in Wichita, where they lived for three years. Velda followed Don home to Morton County in western Kansas in 1946. It has been their home since that time. To this union were born three daughters and one son: Janet Eileen, December 21, 1944, Ann Louise, July 8, 1948, Dean Martin, November 2, 1951, and Donna Marie, June 17, 1954. They farmed and ranched in northern Morton county. They raised Black Angus cattle, farmed the good earth, hunted arrowheads, and enjoyed the quiet life. Don liked to fish and Velda would go with him and sit on the bank and read a book. They moved to Elkhart in 1954, where she worked as a secretary for Edgar White, Attorney-At-Law. Later she was a bookkeeper/accountant for Fishers, Inc., and had a bookkeeping/income tax business of her own. In 1970 she sold her business to Jay Edgar. For several years she worked at the Morton County Hospital filing insurance claims, and also ran the Tuscan Drive In Theater south of town, but eventually took over the business again. She ran for County Treasurer one year. She met many of the people who lived throughout the county. Some of those friendships have remained throughout the years. She celebrated her 80th and 90th birthdays with a party inviting the whole community. She was planning for her 100th birthday party. Computer knowledge became a part of her life in the past few years as she learned to e-file income tax returns for the public. Her grandchildren were very proud of her for moving into the 21st century; well prepared for the business at hand. They called her their FOXY Grandma. She received the “I Love Elkhart Award” and on her 90th birthday, Terri and Jerry Ryman and Jennifer Yoder placed a huge sign about her birthday at the corner of Main Street and Highway 56 for all to see. She was recognized by The Hutchinson News for being the “Spunky 92 Year Old Tax Preparer.” She was interviewed by Clara Kilbourn of the newspaper, pictures were taken and shown on a Hutchinson TV station. The story was picked up by Associated Press and even a niece of Velda’s heard about her in the Dallas/Fort Worth area. In February 2005, she was contacted by the Jay Leno Show about a guest spot. She told them “I’d rather be on Wheel of Fortune.” Velda was a charter member of the Business Professional Women’s (BPW) Club of Elkhart. She belonged to the JOY circle and United Methodist Women’s group at her church. She served as the Treasurer of the Lion’s Club Community Band in recent years. During the farm years, she taught Sunday School and Vacation Bible School to her children. She has always been active in the Sunday School and worship service, committees and organizations of her church. She was baptized by immersion at the First Christian Church in Elkhart. In her later years she joined the Red Hat Society, and enjoyed this fellowship. She enjoyed playing Skip-Bo with her lady friends who were also widows. Velda enjoyed working with numbers, jigsaw puzzles and working with her stamp collection. She helped several people with their individual stamp collections and she liked collecting stamps from the various businesses in town. She enjoyed traveling each summer with her daughter, Ann. They went to such places as Hawaii (where she met Don Ho), Bahamas, Cancun, east coast of the United States to see the changing leaves, Alaska (where she went white water rafting), and Colorado. Their daughters honored Velda and Don with a silver wedding anniversary celebration in October 1968.

She was preceded in death by her parents; husband and son, Don Martin and Dean Martin Sipes; sisters, Marjorie Horn, Gertrude Comstock, Dora Lampton, and Imogene McFadden; brothers, Wayne, Clyde, and Ivan Morse.

Survivors include daughters: Janet and husband Billy Burns, Eva Community, Oklahoma, Ann and husband Richard Hall, Dallas, Texas, and Donna and husband Thomas Morris, Balko, Oklahoma. Grandchildren: Jolinda Burns, Stillwater, Oklahoma, Kimberly and husband David Bruner, Yampa, Colorado, Billy Don and wife Crystal Burns, Logan New Mexico, Kristi and husband J.D. Burroughs, Haughton, Louisiana, Jennifer Morris, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, David and wife Kelly Morris, Norman, Oklahoma, and grandchildren of Ann and Richard Hall. Great-Grandchildren: Dakota, Kourtney, and Kayedence Bruner, Alexia and Natalie Burroughs, Kambry and Brock Burns, and Tommy Morris. Sisters-in-law, Eloida Morse, Neligh, Nebraska, and Norma Morse, Elk City, Kansas. She is also survived by one aunt, Shirley Hagler, Hutchinson, Kansas and a multitude of nieces and nephews, and a host of friends.

Memorials may be given to the Morton County Hospital Auxiliary or Donor’s Choice both in care of Garnand Funeral Home, PO Box 854, Elkhart, KS 67950.

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