IN MEMORIAM
EXPANDED EULOGIES
Phyllis Wingfield
Funeral arrangements for Phyllis Louise (Larsen) Wingfield, 92, who passed away Aug. 7, 2023, in McDonald, Kansas, are being handled by Knodel Funeral Home, St. Francis, with internment in Grace Cemetery, McDonald.
Phyllis was born Oct. 1, 1930, in Marion, the second child of Louis Philo Larsen and Grace Edith (Winkley) Larsen.
Her parents were farmers on the same farm in Marion County for most of their lives. Phyllis lived on the farm and attended a rural school near her parents’ farm for seven years. She then attended the eighth grade and four years of high school in Marion.
While attending school in Marion, she lived with her grandparents during the week and went home on the weekends.
Phyllis was a student at Kansas State College, now University, where she met her future husband in 1948.
While at Kansas State, she was a member of A Capella Choir.
Phyllis and Owen Ross Wingfield were united in marriage July 30, 1950, at Aulne Methodist Church, near the Larsen farm. They celebrated 72 years of married life.
To this union were born daughter Debra Louise Wingfield and sons Gregory Allan Wingfield and David Lloyd Wingfield. David lived only one day.
All of Phyllis’s married life was spent in McDonald except five months while attending Kansas State.
Phyllis had many interests, including her family, church, community, playing organ, crafting, quilting, and working puzzles.
She was very active in the community and was a member of the McDonald Federated Church, where she played the organ from 1956 until 2019.
Phyllis was a member of the Ladies Guild of the church and was quilt chairman for many years.
She was a member of the Order of the Easter Star, for which she was pianist.
She also was a member of the American Legion Auxiliary, Music Club, Merry Mixers Hobby Club, McDonald Senior Citizens, Home Demonstration Unit, and the Red Hatters of McDonald – Bird City.
Preceding her in death were her parents, Louis P. Larsen and Grace E. Larsen; her infant son, David Lloyd Wingfield; her in-laws, Ross R. Wingfield and Grace B. Wingfield; her brother, Donald W. Larsen, and his wife, Jacqueline, of Livermore, California; and her beloved husband, Owen.
Phyllis is survived by her daughter, Debra Louise Wingfield, of Gibbon, Nebraska; son, Gregory Allen Wingfield, and wife LaDina B. Wingfield of Cedar Point; grandson Orion Shey Wingfield and wife Caroline Beach of Berkeley Lake, Georgia; granddaughter Molly Alaine Wingfield and husband Scott Kaitz of Minneapolis, Minnesota; nephews Larry Larsen and Jon Larsen; niece Karen Sweet; and other relatives and many friends.
Memorials may be made to the McDonald Federated Church, McDonald Ambulance Fund or McDonald Community Development Inc.
Honorary pall bearers are Jeri Antholz, Eileen Porubsky, Brooke Porubsky, Cathy Ritchey, Wendy White, Shelly Woolf, the other loving Wheat Haven staff, and special “daughter” Sylvia Hubbard.