Mrs. Bette Jean Maughmer

Mother was born in January, 1923, in Savannah, Missouri, the only child of Florence and Warren Townsend. After graduating from Savannah High School a year early, she attended Northwest Missouri State Teachers’ College in Maryville and graduated with a degree in Business Education. During World War II, she worked for TWA in Kansas City, coordinating troop movement in the U.S. She married Norman Maughmer in 1946, soon after he was honorably discharged from the Army Air Corps (Air Force), having served as a bombardier based in England during the war. She and Dad lived in Columbia while he finished his degree at Mizzou and then moved to Bellevue, NE, where he was employed by Wilson Meat Packing Co. From 1950-60, they lived on the Maughmer farm in Andrew County. Dad returned to Wilson’s in 1960, and they lived in Bellevue, Cherokee, Iowa, and Kansas City until he retired. After moving back to Kansas City, Mother received her MA in Elementary Education and taught at Davidson Elementary in the NKC School District. Her nearly 20 years of teaching 5th grade, mother was teacher, “counselor” and “mother” to countless students who would continue to remember her with notes and visits for many years, even after she was no longer teaching.

Mother was baptized when she was 10 and she and Dad attended church—and Sunday School—every Sunday for as long as they were able, for the last 53 years at Hillside Christian Church. She was a member of the P.E.O. Sisterhood, a philanthropic organization supporting education for women, for over 70 years, most recently of Chapter JC. She was a faithful fan of both the Chiefs and the Royals, win or lose. She loved to read and would just as soon read a cookbook as the newspaper or a novel and Mother was recognized by all who knew her as a great cook! Shortly before her 95th birthday, she told Julie that she was going to bake a cake after her birthday. When Julie asked, “Why?”, her response was, “Just so I can say I did it!”

Dad preceded Mother in death in 2013. She is survived by their three children: Julie (Martin) MacDonald of Springfield, MO; Barbara (Richard) Clark of Powell, WY; and Judge John (Jan) Maughmer of Parkville. She dearly loved her six grandchildren and thirteen great-grandchildren and loved hearing about and from them, especially when pictures were involved: Drew (wife Jessica, Kayla, Vanessa, Brie, Jaxson, Teagan) Maughmer of Bellevue, NE; Amy Maughmer (partner Trent Krug) and daughter Lyla of Overland Park, KS; Chris (husband Brian, Connor, Caleb) Hunter of Billings, MT; Courtney (husband Jeremy, Jazmin, Landon, Blaine) McElroy of Miller, MO; Ryan (wife Vicki, McKenzie, Jameson) MacDonald of Springfield; and Scott and Laura MacDonald, also of Springfield. She also leaves a niece, Carole (Jim) Butts of Nixa, MO.

Due to the current health crisis and Drew’s deployment overseas, we will hold a celebration of Mother’s life in the Spring. In lieu of flowers, and in recognition of Mother’s love for children, please consider a donation in her memory to the Backpack Program at Hillside Christian Church, 900 NE Vivion Road, Kansas City, MO, 64118. We would also like to thank all the staff at McCrite Plaza as well as those who cared for her recently on 5th floor at NKC Hospital and the Hospice House. Hers was a life well-lived and we are grateful God shared her with us for so long.

Messages/condolences may be left online at White Chapel Funeral Home on Antioch Rd.