December 24, 1940 - January 10, 2025
Lonnie Leroy Hess was born December 24, 1940, in Anthony, Kansas to Carl and Viola Hess and passed away January 10, 2025. Lonnie attended grade school and high school in Amorita and Burlington. He graduated from Northwestern Oklahoma State University with a BS degree in Industrial Arts and received a master’s degree from the University of Missouri in Columbia. Lonnie married Mardis Ann Draper on August 8, 1964. He taught his first year in high school at Satanta, Kansas, and then he and Mardis Ann taught the rest of their careers in high school in Moscow, Kansas.
Upon retiring in 1997, he and Mardis Ann moved to Wakita and did some substitute teaching at Wakita High School and became fully active in the United Methodist Church and community work. He was active in Lions Clubs in Hugoton, Kansas and Wakita, Oklahoma. He served in the National Guard. He was also a draftsman and wood worker, all aspects of Industrial Arts, a farmer, photographer, gunsmith, an avid reader, and enjoyed his computer often creating and printing for the church, Lions Club, and many others. He and Mardis Ann ran The Wakita Herald except for the large printing press, when Mardis Draper, Ann’s dad, was sick in the hospital for three months. He helped Miriam, Ann’s mother, with the operation of the newspaper business until it was sold in 1996. He served in many capacities in the churches in Moscow and Wakita. He and Mardis Ann began their 60th year married as of January 2024.
Lonnie was preceded in death by his wife, Mardis Ann on February 8, 2024; his parents, Viola and Carl Hess; his sister, Joyce Barnard; and brother, Raymond Hess and wife, Joan.
Left to mourn his passing are his nieces: Jeanne Fraiser, Lori Hess, Sheila Rader; nephews: Carthel Hess, Randall Hess, Mark Barnard, and Vincent Barnard; his brother-in-law, Gerald Barnard; his sister-in-law, Martha Draper; close friend, Gary Smith; and many other relatives and friends.
Funeral service will be held 2:00 p.m. Friday, January 17, 2025 at the United Methodist Church in Wakita with Reverend Kateena Roberts officiating. Friends may view and register from 10:30 a.m. to the service at the church. Burial will follow in the Rosemound Cemetery at Medford, OK.
Memorials in memory of Lonnie may be made to the Wakita United Methodist Church or to the Community Health Center Food Pantry and can be sent in care of Prairie Rose Funeral Home, 602 E. Main St., Anthony, KS 67003.
