JOYE ANSDELL

JOYE ANSDELL
Joye Ansdell, 101, Manhattan, died Feb. 19, 2012, at Meadowlark Hills Wroten House. She was born Oct. 17, 1910, in Jamestown, Kan., the daughter of Fred and Ora Good Ansdell.
She obtained her undergraduate degree in 1932 from what was then Kansas State Agricultural College. She taught 14 years in Jamestown, Norton and Marysville High Schools. During that time she used summer sessions to earn a Master’s degree in English Literature from the University of Michigan and a degree in Library Science from the University of Chicago.
In 1946 she began her teaching career in the English department at Kansas State University. During a leave of absence she obtained a Ph.D. from the University of Colorado, where she was awarded a fellowship in 1955.
She was active in a number of professional organizations. She served on the executive board of the Kansas Association of Teachers of English and as a member of a book selection committee at the National Level of NCTE. For more than 20 years (1969-1997) she served on the state William Allen White Book Selection Committee. She was involved at the local, state and international level in the Delta Kappa Gamma Society, an honorary teachers’ organization. Three summers she taught in NEDA Institutes or acted as consultant on children’s books at Southwestern College, Winfield, Kan., and Hastings College, Hastings, Neb.
Her memberships included Beta Phi Mu (library honorary), MAREA (retired educators), AAUW, Chapter GX of P.E.O., D.A.R., Prairie Walkers and Kappa Alpha Theta. She was a member of the Cloud County Historical Society, the Riley County Historical Society and the Kansas State Historical Society. In 2009 she was named the Meadowlark Legacy Award Recipient by the Meadowlark Hills Foundation Board. Dr. Ansdell was a member of the First United Methodist Church of Manhattan.
Family, friends, travel and books were her greatest interests. She traveled throughout the United States, including Hawaii and Alaska. She visited Canada and Europe more than once and thoroughly enjoyed a trip to New Zealand and Australia.
Survivors include her nephew, Donald L. Moler Jr. (Judy) of Topeka; a great-nephew, Seth Ansdell Moler (Mary); and a great-great-niece and a great-great-nephew; and two great-stepnephews, Eric Anderson and Marc Anderson (Julie). She was preceded in death by her parents, Fred and Ora Ansdell, and by her sister, Margaret Ansdell Moler.
Memorial services will be held at 11 a.m., Saturday, Feb. 25, at the Meadowlark Hills Community Room with the Rev. Nancy J. Kollhoff officiating.
Online condolences may be left for the family through the funeral home web site atwww.ymlfuneralhome.com.
Memorials may be made to the Meadowlark Hills Good Samaritan Fund, 2121 Meadowlark Road, Manhattan, KS 66502, the First United Methodist Church of Manhattan, 612 Poyntz Ave., Manhattan, KS 66502, or the Kansas State Historical Society, 6425 SW 6th Avenue, Topeka, KS 66615. Contributions may be left in care of the Yorgensen-Meloan-Londeen Funeral Home, 1616 Poyntz Avenue, Manhattan, KS 66502.

• TERRY KAY DELFORGE - May. 18, 2012
• MARIE MARCELLA (FORGUE) BIEKER - May. 14, 2012
• M. BLANCHE MOSSBURGH - May. 14, 2012