Funeral Service
10:30 a.m., Tuesday, January 3, 2012
Trinity Lutheran Churcn
McFarland, Kansas

Interment
Trinity Lutheran Cemetery
McFarland, Kansas

Visitation
6:00 p.m. until 8:00 p.m., Monday, January 2, 2012
Trinity Lutheran Church

Mildred Ruth Schmanke, 92, of McFarland, Kansas, died Wednesday, December 28, 2011, at her home.  She was a life-long resident of the area.

Mildred was born February 11, 1919, in Newbern, Kentucky, the daughter of Milton S. and Marie Bennett Scott.  She attended local schools and graduated from Alma High School in 1936.

Mildred married Victor Gustav Schmanke on April 18, 1937, in rural McFarland.  He preceded her in death on July 27, 1989.

Mildred was a homemaker and also worked for twenty years as a nurses aid at the Alma Manor.  She was an active member of Trinity Lutheran Church and the LWML.  Mildred loved to quilt and gathered weekly with her friends at the Wabaunsee County Museum to make quilts. She was a founding member of the McFarland Senior Citizens and loved to tend her flowers and garden.  She enjoyed working crossword and jigsaw puzzles.

Mildred is survived by her daughters, Mary Ann Schroeder and her husband, William, Topeka, Shirley Pryor, Topeka; her sons, Kenneth Schmanke and his wife, Margaret, Gerald, Missouri, Robert Schmanke and his wife, Gayla, Olathe, and Gerald Schmanke and his wife, Tara, Alma; her sister, Mary Lou Gnadt and her husband, Martin, Alma; eleven grandchildren, twenty seven great-grandchildren and one great-great-grandchild.  She was also preceded in death by her parents and a sister, Ella Mae Hillmer.

Funeral services will be held at 10:30 a.m., Tuesday, January 3, 2012, at Trinity Lutheran Church in McFarland.  Reverend Ron Rather will be officiating.  Burial will follow at Trinity Lutheran Cemetery.  The family will greet friends from 6:00 p.m. until 8:00 p.m., Monday, at the church.  They suggest memorial contributions to the Wabaunsee County Historical Society or Midland Care Hospice, and those may be sent in care of Campanella-Gentry Funeral Home in Alma.  Online condolences may be made at www.campanellafuneral.com.