Tom O. Akin

Mr. Akin died Saturday, Sept. 20, 2003, at Lawrence Memorial Hospital.

He was born Feb. 4, 1913, in Kansas City, Mo., the son of Harry Glen and Kate (Ogden) Oliver. He was adopted by John and Bertha (Walters) Akin after his parents died. He grew up in the Lawrence and Eudora area. He attended Bellview Elementary School near Eudora and graduated from Liberty Memorial High School in 1932.

Mr. Akin farmed and baled hay for hire starting in 1944. He purchased the LP Gas Co. in 1950 and owned it until 1964. He maintained the gas business and City Service Station, and sold gas appliances. He was a real estate broker from 1967 until he retired in 1989.

He was president of the Kansas LP Gas Assn. in 1958, and his family was the Douglas County 4-H Family of the Year in 1965. He became the first land donor to the Kansas Land Trust in 1994, as a way to honor his wife’s memory and preserve the land where her memorial was.

He was a member of United Methodist Church of Eudora, where he had been a member of the administrator board, and of Eudora IOOF Lodge No. 42.

He married Dorothy Bell Griffin on Nov. 1, 1934, in Baldwin. She died Dec. 27, 1989.

Survivors include a son, Larry, Houston; a daughter, Linda Akin Renner, Long Beach, Calif.; and two granddaughters.

Friends may call from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Sunday at Rumsey-Yost Funeral Home, where the family will receive friends from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. Sunday and one hour before service time at the church.

The family suggests memorials to 4-H Foundation, the church or Douglas County Visiting Nurses Assn., sent in care of the funeral home.

Online condolences may be sent at www.rumsey-yost.com.