Donna Beth Blythe

A memorial service for Donna Beth Blythe, 75, Lawrence, will be at 2 p.m. Saturday at First Baptist Church in Lawrence. A visitation time will follow the service.Mrs. Blythe died Thursday, Sept. 1, 2005, at Brandon Woods South Health Center.She was born Dec. 11, 1929, in Superior, Neb., the daughter of Edward C. and Leota Pitman Noren. She graduated from Superior (Neb.) High School in 1947 and Ottawa University in 1951 with a bachelor’s degree in music.Mrs. Blythe taught music and English in Belleville and directed choirs in Lewiston, Maine; Marengo, Ill., Beaver Dam, Wis., and Winfield. She was a substitute teacher in Winfield from 1975 to 1983. She served on many church boards and was a vice president and soloist of the Winfield Oratorio Society and a founding member of Winfield Child Care Center. She led singing for several American Baptist Women’s conferences in Kansas and for a national conference. She was a member of First Baptist Church in Lawrence and PEO Chapter HZ.She married John Blythe Aug. 23, 1952, in Superior, Neb. He survives, of the home.Other survivors include two sons, Christopher, Madison, Wis., and David, Brooklyn, N.Y.; three daughters, Carol Beth Blythe, Silver Spring, Md., Julie Peterson, Westwood, and Gretchen Blythe, Kansas City, Mo.; a brother, Robert Noren, Overland Park; and seven grandchildren.The family suggests memorials to First Baptist Church of Lawrence or the Donna Beth Blythe Scholarship at Ottawa University, sent in care of Rumsey-Yost Funeral Home.Online condolences may be sent at www.rumsey-yost.com.