Joan’s Obituary
By Joan Gatewood, November, 2008
If a leaf falls from the tree and is still beautiful, then in death I am beautiful.
I was born on the high plains of Western Kansas, not in a sod house, but a rock solid eight room stone house! My Dad said, “Four girls and each one gets cuter!” When Aunt Grace Johnson showed me my oldest sister Nellie, she said “Are you sure it isn’t a little pig?” Heck little pigs are cute and pink!
On the high plain of Western Kansas the south wind blows from dawn ‘til dusk for miles. You could see the farmers with their horse-drawn wheat drills carefully planting wheat in the fall of 1919. Then suddenly come cool, crisp days and the rains and snow fall gently. The little green sprigs show up in the drill row and the whole field is a brilliant dark green. Then the snows come and protect the wheat like a warm wool blanket.
My dad gets restless and sells the wheat farm and buys a farm at Quenemo, Kansas in the Marais des Cygnes Valley.
It rained so much there it was impossible to plant corn so we sold out and moved to the Emporia farm when I was three years old. There I went to Ruggles School when I was six years old. I had wonderful teachers who opened up a whole new world of wonderful books in a one room school house; no bathroom, no running water and one teacher for all eight grades. Lots of the boys were taller than the teacher but discipline was no problem. I remember being told if I got a licking in school, I was going to get one when I got home.
Where did the idea come from that you had to have a multi-million dollar building to get an education?
In 1941 I married Wayne Gatewood. We rented a farm and started raising cattle and chickens, saving money so we could buy a farm. It took ten years and we had the down payment of $4,000 for an 80-acre farm and we had 30 head of cattle. We quickly rented another 160 acres from relatives and a friend. My dad told us about 160 acres of pasture we could buy for $8,000. Since we had made a couple of good crops we could pay down half again.
In September of 1959 we adopted three little kids; four, five, and six years old. The next ten years were happy years. We bought more cattle, more land and more antique furniture. Then the kids were teenagers. There were lots of unhappy times, but they finally grew up and turned their lives around.
If a Kernel of wheat holds the secret of life in its seed for 10,000 years; if an ear of corn developed from a wild plant can grow; then a soul will live again, not in this month, or this year, or in this place, but somewhere, sometime, for eternity!
L.M. “Joan” Gatewood, 97, formerly of the Dunlap area, died Friday, March 24, 2017 at Newman Regional Health.
Her funeral service will be 2:00 P.M. Wednesday, March 29, 2017 at Roberts-Blue-Barnett Funeral Home. Pastor Nancy Mathis, of the Americus United Methodist Church will officiate. Burial will be in the Dunlap Cemetery. The family will meet with friends from 1:00 P.M. until service time at the funeral home on Wednesday.
Memorial donations to the Americus United Methodist Church may be sent in care of Roberts-Blue-Barnett Funeral Home.
Leona Maude “Joan” Butler, the daughter of John William “Jack” and Ida Maude Johnson Butler was born December 5, 1919 in Bazine, Kansas. She married Wayne Gatewood on May 10, 1941 at the Butler Family farm, in Lyon County. He preceded her in death on October 4, 2011.
Surviving members of the family include two sons, Steven Gatewood of Reading and Michael Gatewood of Emporia; a daughter, Cathy Gatewood of Oswego; a step-daughter, Margaret Hailey of Depot Bay, OR; and many grandchildren, great-grandchildren and great-great-grandchildren.
She was preceded in death by a son, Jim Gatewood, three sisters and one brother. Joan was a member of the Dunlap United Methodist Church and the 72 Club. To order memorial trees or send flowers to the family in memory of Joan Gatewood, please visit our flower store.
By Joan Gatewood, November, 2008
If a leaf falls from the tree and is still beautiful, then in death I am beautiful.
I was born on the high plains of Western Kansas, not in a sod house, but a rock solid eight room stone house! My Dad said, “Four girls and each one gets cuter!” When Aunt Grace Johnson showed me my oldest sister Nellie, she said “Are you sure it isn’t a little pig?” Heck little pigs are cute and pink!
On the high plain of Western Kansas the south wind blows from dawn ‘til dusk for miles. You could see the farmers with their horse-drawn wheat drills carefully planting wheat in the fall of 1919. Then suddenly come cool, crisp days and the rains and snow fall gently. The little green sprigs show up in the drill row and the whole field is a brilliant dark green. Then the snows come and protect the wheat like a warm wool blanket.
My dad gets restless and sells the wheat farm and buys a farm at Quenemo, Kansas in the Marais des Cygnes Valley.
It rained so much there it was impossible to plant corn so we sold out and moved to the Emporia farm when I was three years old. There I went to Ruggles School when I was six years old. I had wonderful teachers who opened up a whole new world of wonderful books in a one room school house; no bathroom, no running water and one teacher for all eight grades. Lots of the boys were taller than the teacher but discipline was no problem. I remember being told if I got a licking in school, I was going to get one when I got home.
Where did the idea come from that you had to have a multi-million dollar building to get an education?
In 1941 I married Wayne Gatewood. We rented a farm and started raising cattle and chickens, saving money so we could buy a farm. It took ten years and we had the down payment of $4,000 for an 80-acre farm and we had 30 head of cattle. We quickly rented another 160 acres from relatives and a friend. My dad told us about 160 acres of pasture we could buy for $8,000. Since we had made a couple of good crops we could pay down half again.
In September of 1959 we adopted three little kids; four, five, and six years old. The next ten years were happy years. We bought more cattle, more land and more antique furniture. Then the kids were teenagers. There were lots of unhappy times, but they finally grew up and turned their lives around.
If a Kernel of wheat holds the secret of life in its seed for 10,000 years; if an ear of corn developed from a wild plant can grow; then a soul will live again, not in this month, or this year, or in this place, but somewhere, sometime, for eternity!
L.M. “Joan” Gatewood, 97, formerly of the Dunlap area, died Friday, March 24, 2017 at Newman Regional Health.
Her funeral service will be 2:00 P.M. Wednesday, March 29, 2017 at Roberts-Blue-Barnett Funeral Home. Pastor Nancy Mathis, of the Americus United Methodist Church will officiate. Burial will be in the Dunlap Cemetery. The family will meet with friends from 1:00 P.M. until service time at the funeral home on Wednesday.
Memorial donations to the Americus United Methodist Church may be sent in care of Roberts-Blue-Barnett Funeral Home.
Leona Maude “Joan” Butler, the daughter of John William “Jack” and Ida Maude Johnson Butler was born December 5, 1919 in Bazine, Kansas. She married Wayne Gatewood on May 10, 1941 at the Butler Family farm, in Lyon County. He preceded her in death on October 4, 2011.
Surviving members of the family include two sons, Steven Gatewood of Reading and Michael Gatewood of Emporia; a daughter, Cathy Gatewood of Oswego; a step-daughter, Margaret Hailey of Depot Bay, OR; and many grandchildren, great-grandchildren and great-great-grandchildren.
She was preceded in death by a son, Jim Gatewood, three sisters and one brother. Joan was a member of the Dunlap United Methodist Church and the 72 Club. To order memorial trees or send flowers to the family in memory of Joan Gatewood, please visit our flower store.
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