Freida Emma (Wafler) Hawthorne, 97, Manhattan, died July 11, 2014 at Meadowlark Hills, Lyle House, in Manhattan.
Freida was born on June 9, 1917, on a farm near Dwight, Kansas, the daughter of Alfred and Amelia (Lebeck) Wafler. She graduated from Dwight High School with the Class of 1935 and later graduated from the Venus Beauty Academy in Wichita. Following graduation she worked for around five years as a beautician.
Freida married Mervin James Hawthorne on December 31, 1941, in Wichita, Kansas. Her husband was in the U.S. Army Air Corps in WWII and during that time they lived at various locations until he was discharged in 1945. In 1946, they bought a farm near Wilsey, Kansas, where they farmed for nearly 44 years. They retired to Council Grove in 1989 where Mervin passed away on August 22, 1991. In 2001 Freida moved into the Meadowlark Hills Retirement Community in Manhattan.
She was active in the Wilsey and Council Grove United Methodist Churches as well as several clubs. She was busy with farm work and gardening. When her daughters were younger, she was a 4-H leader.
She was preceded in death by her parents, her husband, five brothers: Alfred, Fred, Roy, John, and William, five sisters: Lena Day, Bertha Wafler, Josephine Arney, Minnie Olson, and Marie Miller, and her sons-in-law: Gene Keltner and John Wylie.
She is survived by her daughters, Carol Keltner, Manhattan, and JoAnn Wylie of Las Vegas, Nevada, three grandchildren, Erik (April) Keltner, Shawnee, Kansas, Lindsay Wylie (Sean Dunbar), Ontario, California, and Ashley (Justin) Peck, Manhattan, and two great-grandchildren, Lena and Harvey Keltner. She is also survived by many nieces and nephews and their families.
Memorial contributions may be made to the Council Grove United Methodist Church in care of the funeral home at P. O. Box 273, Council Grove, KS 66846.