Mercedes M. Tuckwin-Degand

Mrs. Tuckwin-Degand died Sunday, Oct. 6, 2002, at Midland Hospice House in Topeka.

She was born July 9, 1926, in Mayetta, the daughter of Louis W. and Elizabeth (Blandin) Tuckwin. She lived in Mayetta for most of her life, though she also lived in Kansas City, Mo., for several years.

Mrs. Tuckwin-Degand worked for One-Hour Martinizing Dry Cleaners in Kansas City, Mo., and later was director of Potawatomi Housing Authority on Prairie Band of Potawatomi Indian Reservation in Mayetta. She was a member of Our Lady of the Snows Church and St. Francis Xavier Church in Mayetta. She was also a member of Potawatomi Senior Citizen Center and Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation.

She married Kenneth A. Degand. He died in 1993.

Survivors include four daughters, Bonnie Abram and Cheryl Gillaspie, both of Lawrence, and Connie Smith and Maureen Throssell, both of Mayetta; three sons, Dennis Degand and Jimmy Degand, both of Mayetta, and Greg Degand, Topeka; a sister, Rose Mary Tuckwin-Smith, New Kensington, Pa.; three brothers, Jerry Tuckwin, Lawrence, Tom Tuckwin, Hoyt, and Ralph Tecumseh, Mayetta; 14 grandchildren; and nine great-grandchildren.

A parish rosary will be recited at 7 p.m. today at Mercer Funeral Home in Holton, where family will receive friends afterward until 8:30 p.m. There will be a wake at Our Lady of the Snows at 9 p.m. today.

The family suggests memorials to Our Lady of the Snows, sent in care of the funeral home, P.O. Box 270, Holton 66436.