Lila May Welch

Lila May (Metz) Welch was born on May 29, 1919, the third child of Orvil and Myrtle May (Plank) Metz at the family home north of Dalton.  She spent her childhood on the family farm doing her best to keep up with her older brothers, Lyle and Lloyd, and her many boy cousins.  Lila May attended Home Valley #11 country school until attending high school in Oxford, graduating with the class of 1936 at the age of 16.

She met and married Donie Welch after he started to work as a hired hand on her aunt’s farm.  They married at the Dalton Methodist Church on May 4, 1941 and celebrated 53 years of marriage.  Thomas and Kathlee were born two years apart soon after.  While the children were young Lila May worked hard as a homemaker and mother.  She was no stranger to additional farm work as well as a help mate to her husband.

After a time Donie and Lila May moved to Wellington.  Once the children were older Lila May worked outside of the home in a variety of jobs, including McGee’s Department Store in Oxford, Mulvane, and finally Wellington.  Her final job before retirement was for Cord Parts Company as parts manager, putting her in touch with classic car enthusiasts all over the world.

Lila May always found time to volunteer in many ways including as a Gray Lady with the Red Cross at Hatcher Hospital where she talked about feeding sick patients so that nurses could do more medical type work.

When Tom and Kathlee were of age, they both became involved in scouting, and Donie and Lila May were scout leaders.  Many lessons and much laughter came from those many years of scouting.  Lila May took the girls on ever so many adventures including camping trips to Colorado and the Girls Scout House on Wellington Lake, and day and weekend trips to Abilene, Topeka, and Bartlesville, Oklahoma among others.  She also was a volunteer “class grandma” at Kennedy Elementary where she read to children and was an all-around help like grandmas often are.  For many years she enjoyed donating her Monday and Thursday mornings to different quilting groups, who hand-quilted for donations.  These proceeds would then be donated to other causes, like Operation Christmas Child or Heifer International.  After she and Donie retired in the early 1980s, they spent seven summers as campground hosts of a National Forest Campground in Colorado.

Lila May was a strong woman who could do ANYTHING and could help you or tell you how to do it too!  She could pick, snap, and can a 5-gallon bucket of green beans before breakfast.  She was the best fudge whipper on the planet.  She could sew and quilt, crochet and knit, paint, and garden.  Until her mid-90s, she could put her palms on the floor.  She could calm a cranky child and had such sage advice.  Her great-grand children are sure she could see through her eyelids.  She was an example and mentor to many and will be missed by all.

Lila May outlived so many beloved friends and family including her parents, brothers, husband, and son.  She leaves behind her daughter, Kathlee Defore; grandsons Jeff Defore (Karla), John Defore (Amiee), Jim Hearsch, Patrick Hearsch; granddaughters Judy Rusk (Mark), Sherry Bordwell (Richard), LeLoni Lyons, and Sandra Welch; many great-grandchildren and great-great-grandchildren.

Graveside services for Lila May will be held at 1 p.m., Monday, November 30, 2020, at Prairie Lawn Cemetery in Wellington. Pastor Don Cross will officiate.  If attending, please adhere to the current public gathering guidelines by wearing a face mask.

There is no visitation scheduled.

In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions can be given in her name and loving memory to the First United Methodist Church of Wellington, Kansas.  Contributions can be mailed or left with the funeral home.

Share a memory, leave condolences or sign her digital tribute wall at www.cornejofuneralhome.com