Bess Florence Duston

Bessie Florence Duston nee Heflin died at Liberty Hospital on February 17, 2022. Bess was born to Robert Russell and Gladys Odessa Heflin nee Chapman in Clifty, Arkansas on January 11, 1936. As a child her family moved between Clifty and Barnsdall, Oklahoma before they settled in Pawhuska, Oklahoma. Her time in Pawhuska was interrupted by a short-lived move to southern California at the height of the great depression. She attended Phillips University in Enid, Oklahoma, before transferring to Northeastern State College at Tahlequah, Oklahoma from where she graduated in 1959 with a BA in Education. After graduation, she taught art in New Mexico for a year, and then moved to Kansas City, Missouri where she worked at Hallmark Cards as an illustrator and later taught art in the Kansas City, Missouri School District, finally teaching art from time to time as a substitute in the North Kansas City School District after she and her family moved north of the river in 1969.

Bess married Glen V. Duston in Kansas City, Missouri on June 15, 1963 and retired from full-time employment with the birth of the first of two sons. She was an active member of Fairview Christian Church for over fifty years, serving on various committees and boards. She was active in the local neighborhood, teaching knitting, crocheting, painting, and other things to neighborhood children in the 1970s; in the civic community working as an election judge for 30 years; in the local art community serving as both a member and on the board of several art co-ops; and teaching art in her grandchildren's local home-school co-op. She also enjoyed playing in a neighborhood bridge group for over 40 years.

Bess is preceded in death by her parents, son Greg Duston, sister Joanne Isham, brother Jerry Heflin, sister Betty Milleson, sister Barbara Baldridge, and brother Jim Heflin.

She is survived by her husband Glen of the home, her son and daughter-in-law Hal and Altona Duston, grandchildren Miri, Tamra, Clara, Hannah and Russell Duston, great-grandchildren Cadence and Korra Lentine all of Kansas City, Missouri; brother Jack Heflin of Tulsa, Oklahoma; sisters Sharon Olsen of Sapulpa, Oklahoma; and Wanda Bayer of Holiday, Florida.

Visitation will be February 28 from 4 PM to 7 PM at McGilley Antioch Chapel; 3325 NE Vivion Rd; Kansas City, Missouri 64119.

Service will be March 1 at 10 AM at Fairview Christian Church; 1800 NE 65th St; Gladstone, Missouri 64118.

Interment to follow at Graceland Cemetery; 1015 Lynx Ln; Burlington, Kansas 66849.

Please note that travel one-way to the cemetery will be approximately 2 hours.