Crystal McCarty Toot

Mrs. Toot died Monday, April 19, 2004, at Central Kansas Medical Center in Great Bend.

She was born in Great Bend, the daughter of Charles Edward and Josie Ann Tucker McCarty.

A lifelong resident of Great Bend, Mrs. Toot was a retired employee of Southwestern Bell Telephone. She was a member of SBC Telephone Pioneers, American Legion Auxiliary, Veterans of Foreign Wars Auxiliary and a life member of Eastern Star No. 92.

Mrs. Toot was a Great Bend City Council member, was a founder of the Great Bend Humane Society and was honored for 25 years of service to the society. She was an elected member of the U.S.D. 428 Board of Education for 12 years and helped organize and lead volunteer reading programs for Riley Elementary School first-graders.

She was president of the Riley School Parent-Teacher Assn., Roosevelt PTA, president and vice president of the Kansas PTA and a lifetime member of the National PTA. The Kansas PTA selected her as its representative in Japan as part of the Japanese-U.S. Friendship Commission. She was the first woman to receive the Kansas State High School Activities’ Governor’s Award for outstanding contributions to secondary education. She served as a Girl Scout leader and trainer for 28 years and received a Thanks Badge from the national association.

Her husband, Jack Toot, died in 1978.

Survivors include three daughters, Cris Collier, Great Bend, Georgann Ville, Lawrence, and Kay Keener, Arnolds Park, Iowa; a brother, James McCarty, Hutchinson; four grandchildren and six great-grandchildren.

Friends may call from noon to 9 p.m. today and from 9 a.m. until noon Thursday at Bryant Funeral Home in Great Bend, where family will receive friends from 10 a.m. to noon Thursday.

The family suggests memorials to the Great Bend Zoological Society to support and improve Brit Spaugh Zoo, sent in care of the funeral home, 1425 Patton Road, Great Bend 67530.