Betty Ferris

Betty Rae "Boop" Ferris, 90, of Frankfort, died November 25, 2020 at Cambridge Place in Marysville, KS. Visitation will be from noon to 8 p.m., Sunday, November 29 at Padden Funeral Chapel in Frankfort. Masks are required. A funeral service will be held at 3 p.m. Monday, November 30 at the United Methodist Church in Frankfort. Another visitation will be held one hour prior to the service. Masks are required. Burial will be in the Frankfort Cemetery. Betty was born November 9, 1930, at the Carver mid-wife house, in Frankfort, KS, the second child born to the union of Ray Alexander and Gwendolyn Williams Ewing. Her birth followed a near tragic event involving her father. He was working with a team of horses that were spooked and he became entwined in their reins. He suffered grave injuries when he was pulled a distance. The shock of the event resulted in her mother’s early labor. Betty arrived on her father’s twenty-fifth birthday. Her early years were spent in the Bigelow and Irving communities of Marshall County. For a time, her family resided on the Edwards Ranch where her father and other relatives were employed. She attended Merrimac District 15, in Marshall County, Springside District 1 in Pottawatomie County, and was a 1948 graduate of Frankfort High School. At one time she was the lone pupil in a one-room school, keeping the school in operation until other students became enrolled. During her high school years, which were at the tail-end of WWII, she boarded at the Trosper home, with Uncle and Aunt, Phil and Marie Tommer, and shared an apartment the final two years with classmate Maxine Foster Slifer. She had been a member of Order of the Eastern Star, EHU, Red Hats, Frankfort American Legion Auxiliary, and Frankfort United Methodist Church. She was an avid gardener, cook, and in later years occupied herself with reading. She was about family and enjoyed gatherings and cousin’s reunions. In 2003, she traveled abroad for the first time, touring Great Britain, and visited where her mother’s family lived in Wales before emigrating to the U.S. Over the years she was a caregiver not only to her children but other relatives, selflessly giving of herself. Her children remember her for her perseverance and resilience. She married Howard William Ferris, October 2, 1949, at her parent’s home in rural Vermillion, KS. To this union was born seven children. She resided in Lawrence, KS and Sedalia, MO for a short time, but spent the majority of her adult life in the Frankfort community. Her early employment was with Southwestern Bell, as a telephone operator in Frankfort and Lawrence, and was later employed by Johnson’s Café, Frankfort Schools, City of Frankfort, and worked at the Frankfort Community Care Home for over 32 years. She was preceded in death by her parents; husband; a still born sister, Joy Ann Ewing; sister, Nancy Cornelius; still born son, John Michael Ferris; son William Ray Ferris; grandsons, Matthew Arnold and Joshua Lesline; and daughter-in-law, Kelly Linson Ferris. Survivors include brother, Jerry (Linda) Ewing, Overbrook, KS; sister, Laura (Larry) Peppers, Salina, KS; brother-in-law, Kay Cornelius, Ft Worth, TX; daughters, Susan (Don) Arnold, Topeka, KS, Kathryn (Hank) Lesline, Shawnee, KS, Patricia (Mort) Stepinksi, Olathe, KS; sons Dennis (Anette) Ferris, Frankfort, KS, David Ferris, Leavenworth, KS; six grandchildren and step-grandchildren; and four great-grandchildren and step great-grandchildren. Memorials have been designated by the family and may be sent in care of Padden Funeral Chapel. Funeral of Betty Ferris To order memorial trees or send flowers to the family in memory of Betty Ferris, please visit our flower store.