Obituaries / LJWorld.com

Obituaries

Funeral services for Gloria Mae Baugher Ward, 67, rural Lawrence, will be at 1:30 p.m. Tuesday at Rumsey-Yost Funeral Home. Burial will follow in Hardy Oak Cemetery in rural Jefferson County. The family will host a gathering at the Douglas County Trail Riders Clubhouse following burial.
Mrs. Ward died Friday, Jan. 22, 2010, at her home.
She was born Jan. 15, 1943, in Lawrence, the daughter of Sheldon and Evelyn McMillen Baugher. She graduated as salutatorian from Lecompton High School in 1961.
Mrs. Ward worked at Hallmark Cards and Kroger’s prior to becoming a homemaker. She then worked in food service at Kansas University’s Wescoe Hall for 24 years.
She was a 4-H leader for the Kanwaka 4-H Club, a horse trainer and a rancher, an avid gardener and loyal KU basketball fan. She was a member of the American Hereford Association and the Order of the Eastern Star No. 162 in Baldwin City.
A lifelong equestrian, she won hundreds of awards and was a member of the Douglas County Trail Riders, the Girls Rodeo Association, the Kansas State Horse Show Circuit, the Kansas State Mule Association and the Kansas High School Rodeo Association. She represented Kansas at the National High School Rodeo Finals in Sulphur, La., Lewiston, Mont., and Hot Springs, S.D. in the pole bending and barrel racing events, and in 1959 was the National High School Finals Rodeo Champion in pole bending.
She married Russell A. Ward on Dec. 21, 1963, in Lawrence. He died Feb. 18, 1992.
She was also preceded in death by her parents and a brother, Lavon.
Survivors include a daughter, Bobbie Hinds and husband Mark, Minburn, Iowa, and grandson Alan; a brother, Pete Baugher, Lecompton; sister-in-law Rosie French and husband Russ, Lawrence; sister-in-law Marilyn Sharkey, Oskaloosa; a niece, Tammy Herschell; three nephews, Robert Herschell, Loren Baugher and Terry Baugher; great-nephews Dylan Warrington, Nathan Herschell and Matthew Meseke; great-nieces Mikayla Herschell and Hayley Baugher; her faithful dog, Lady; a great-aunt, Dorothy Anderson; and numerous cousins.
Friends may call from noon to 8 p.m. today at the funeral home, where the family will receive them from 5 p.m. to 6 p.m. today, as well as from 12:30 until the service time on Tuesday.
The family suggests memorials to the American Cancer Society, the American Lung Association or the Kansas High School Rodeo Association Scholarship Fund, sent in care of the funeral home, 601 Ind., Lawrence, KS 66044.
Online condolences may be sent at rumsey-yost.com.