Obituary of Sylva Evelyn Whitney

IN LOVING MEMORY OF SYLVA E. WHITNEY Sylva Evelyn Whitney, daughter of Ora and Roberta (Huckel) Wicker, was born November 30, 1911, in Norton, Kansas, and passed away at the Andbe Home in Norton, on March 7, 2011, at the age of 99. Her parents divorced early in her life and her mother later married Earl "Slim" Foland whom she remembered as her father. Sylva attended school at Almena, Bethel, and Kinderhook, before graduating from the Almena Rural High School with the class of 1930. She married Arthur L. Whitney on December 2, 1931, in Oberlin, Kansas. They made their home in Norton County five miles north of the state tuberculosis hospital until 1945, at which time the family moved to the "Blackwood" place 4 miles northwest of Almena. Art and Sylva lived there for 48 years before moving into Norton in December 1993, which is an ancestral house of Art's family. Her husband, Arthur, passed away in 1999, at the age of 91. In addition to being a farmer's wife, Sylva enjoyed working as a nurse's aide at the Norton County Hospital. Together, Art and Sylva opened the first Coast-to-Coast store in Norton on her birthday, November 30, 1960, and then sold it in 1968. She later worked as an employee in the store for Tom Grover and Lester Lang until 1986. Art and Sylva celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary with a reception conducted by their children at the Almena Community Center, and their 60th anniversary with a trip to Branson, Missouri, with their daughter and son-in-law, Beth and Del Lee. Sylva was baptized in the Norton Christian Church on March 15, 1964. She regularly enjoyed watching televised Atlanta Braves baseball and K.U. basketball games, playing Chinese checkers, and putting together jigsaw puzzles. In her youth and early life she enjoyed quilting and she was always a summer gardener. Survivors include: two daughters and their husbands, Beth and Delma Lee, Norton; Joyce and James Trumbo, Almena; five grandchildren, Tracy (Lee) Schemper, Arthur Lee, Timothy, Richard, and Steven Trumbo; 14 great-grandchildren; two great-great-grandchildren; one sister-in-law, Mable Malcolm; one brother-in-law and his wife, Ed and Joan Whitney, Norton; other relatives and friends. Sylva was preceded in death by her parents, her step-father, her husband, one brother and his wife, Earl "Bud" and Margie Wicker. Memorials may be made to Almena Rural High/Northern Valley High School Alumni Memorial Fund.