Maxine Willhite

Services for Maxine Willhite, 80, Lawrence, will be at 10 a.m. Tuesday at First Baptist Church in Ottawa. Inurnment will be in Highland Cemetery in Ottawa.Mrs. Willhite died Friday, July 20, 2007, at Pioneer Ridge Nursing Center in Lawrence.She was born Sept. 25, 1926, in Burlingame, the daughter of Vernie Francis and Iva Maxine Patterson Carmichael. She graduated from Burlingame High School in 1944 and Ottawa University in 1949. She moved from Burlingame to Ottawa in 1949.Mrs. Willhite was a teacher. She taught a year at Lane High School, a year at Liberty School, a one-room school, and then worked for the Ottawa school district, where she taught three years at Lincoln Elementary School and 24 years at Hawthorne Elementary School. She retired in 1990.She was a member of First Baptist Church and its choir, Mission Possible Circle, Sunday school, and served on various church committees. She was also a member of Friends and Fun, the Sewing Club, Kansas Association of Retired School Personnel and Kansas National Education Association. She volunteered at Hope House for many years.Mrs. Willhite married Merle B. Willhite on July 17, 1949, in Burlingame. He died Sept. 8, 1995.Survivors include four daughters, Patricia Coffey, Lawrence, Marcheta Pearson, Olathe, Barbara Stransky, Bonner Springs, and Jean Anne Leigh, Kirkwood, Mo.; and 13 grandchildren.The family will receive friends from 7 p.m. to 8 p.m. Monday at the church.The family suggests memorials to the church, Hope House or Ottawa University, sent in care of Dengel & Son Mortuary, 235 S. Hickory, Ottawa 66067.E-mail condolences may be sent at dengelmortuary@sbcglobal.net.