Ardeth Hawthorne

Marilyn Ardeth Hawthorne, 85, died September 20 in Wichita, Kansas. Memorial services will be held Saturday, September 27, at 10:30 AM at Northridge Friends Church, where Ardeth was a faithful member. A graveside service will follow at 3:30 PM at the Haviland, Kansas, cemetery. Visitation with family will be at Resthaven Mortuary, Wichita, from 5-7 PM Friday, Sept. 26. Ardeth retired in 1989 as Library Media Head at Heights High School, after a career as both a teacher and homemaker. Ardeth was preceded in death by her first husband, Wendell E. Ferguson (June 27, 1966) and second husband Donald E. Hawthorne (Dec. 10, 2008). Survivors include daughter Karen (Dale) Roberts (Wichita), son Richard (Teresa) Ferguson (Lincoln, NE), son Daryl Hawthorne (Winfield, KS), and daughter Dalene (Patrick) McDonald (Arkansas City, KS); brother and sister in-laws Bulah (Francis) McKinney, Drula McKinney, Delmar Ferguson, Ivol Ellis, Floyd (Estalene) Ferguson, Willard (Doris) Ferguson, Veryl Hinshaw, Thelma Marshall, Lois (Al) Walcott, Marie (Randy) Smith and Mina Duncan; grandchildren Ben and Ryan Ferguson, Chelsea (Brad) Carpenter, Casey Roberts, Laura Rose, and Nick Hawthorne; great-granddaughter Sarai Carpenter. A memorial has been established with Northridge Friends Church, 2655 N. Bullinger, Wichita, KS 67204.

Tell ye your children of it, and let your children tell their children, and their children another generation. Joel 1:3”

Marilyn Ardeth (Ardie) Wagner was born April 5, 1929, on the family farm near Haviland, Kansas. Her parents were Charles Verne Wagner and Beatrice (Bevan) Wagner. Ardeth grew up on the farm with her older sister, Beth, and enjoyed a very happy childhood, with loving parents who “instilled in me a desire to live uprightly and to give my life to Christ at an early age”. She and Beth loved to ride the farm work horses (Doll and Matt), play in the haymow, and dress their cats in doll clothes. She appreciated the conveniences her Daddy added to the farm – an indoor bathroom, gasoline and later carbide lights, then a windcharger and radio. She attended grade school and high school in Haviland, where she was valedictorian of her 8th grade and senior high school classes. One of her most vivid grade school memories was the principal on the intercom the Monday after the Pearl Harbor attack, and listening to President Roosevelt announce that America was at war. She recalled the rationing that followed on the farm during the war. Ardeth attended Friends University in Wichita, majoring in Home Economics, and trained to be a teacher. One of her joys of college life was going on “team trips” – singing in church services of Friends Churches of the Kansas Yearly Meeting. It was at Friends University that she met Wendell Ferguson. They were married June 16, 1951, following her graduation from Friends in May. They were called to be pastors at the Cottonwood Friends Church, near Emporia, Kansas. She recalled early challenges with the parsonage – having to haul water in milk cans from Emporia, and heating the house with coal in a Warm Morning stove in the winter. Even so, some of her happiest memories were from their first pastorate. She left teaching in 1954, before Richard was born in May that year. In the summer of 1954 the family moved to Madison, Kansas, where Wendell pastored at Twin Mound Friends Church and taught in the high school. In February 1957 Karen was born, and that summer the family moved to Independence, Kansas, where Wendell would teach Chemistry at Independence Community College. In the fall of 1965 Wendell suffered a heart attack, and after an extended illness died in June 1966. During Wendell’s illness Ardeth studied to renew her teaching certificate, and she began teaching third grade in Independence. With the help of her parents and aunts Ethel and Amy who cared for Richard and Karen during the summer, Ardeth pursued a master’s degree in Library Science at Emporia State College starting in 1968. She eventually became a librarian at Independence Community College where Wendell once taught.

After Wendell’s death, Ardeth was appointed to fill his term on the Board of Directors of Friends University. It was here that she met Don Hawthorne, who also served on the Friends Board, and they were married in Wichita August 18, 1970. They successfully joined two families, with children ranging in age from 8 to 16, and built a new home. Ardeth took a position as librarian at Heights High School in Wichita, where she retired in 1989 as Library Media Head.

Ardeth was a very creative person. Music was “a source of delight, inspiration and relaxation” for her. She began playing the piano at age seven and the baritone in high school. She sang in high school, college and church small groups and choirs. During family trips – in Kansas, to the family farms at Haviland and Chadron, Nebraska, Rocky Mountain National Park, among other places – she shared her creativity with kids and later, grandkids. She and Don planned the trips as an opportunity to learn, often incorporating some kind of craft based on the trip. After retirement from teaching, she had more time to indulge in various creative endeavors – gardening, painting, sewing, weaving – the products of which her children and grandchildren continue to enjoy. Ardeth valued – and expanded – family traditions over the years, especially related to holidays, such as Christmas, Thanksgiving, and Memorial Day. One of her greatest interests was genealogy – inspired by her Aunt Ethel, who for years collected and archived information about her family. Ardeth and Don were able to take Ethel on trips to Iowa, Louisiana and Tennessee to gather information from cemeteries, churches, and courthouses – in addition to many other trips on their own. Her efforts to complete the work started by Ethel culminated in the publication two volumes of family history, on the Bevan family, and the Wagner-Battin family. Much of the history of her life recounted here is taken from her work, which begins with the verse from the book of Joel at the top of this account. She closes the section on her life in the Bevan book with the following:

“The rich heritage of faithful God-centered parents and ancestors has been the stabilizing foundation for my firm and unswerving faith. My life is based on this favorite verse; “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to His purpose. Romans 8:28