Clorice Ann (Cooley) Blank, 93, of Natoma, Kansas, died on Saturday, September 04, 2021, at the Rooks County Health Center in Plainville, Kansas
Clorice was born March 3, 1928, on the family farm in rural Mount Ayr, Kansas, to Rollin and Beulah (Boultinghouse) Cooley where she was the third of eight children. Clorice attended primary grades at Country School and secondary school at Alton High before attending Fort Hays State University to become a teacher. She taught school for three years until she married Theodore Emil Blank on May 23, 1948. They resided in Natoma, Kansas, where they raised three children: Twin boys–Jerry, Larry and fourteen years later a daughter, Kalynn. Clorice was an active member of Peace Lutheran Church, Peace Lutheran Guild, Natoma Legion Auxiliary, VFW, Natoma Heritage Seekers, and she enjoyed making quilts for Lutheran World Relief and foster children with SRS. She also volunteered at the Natoma Community Center and Natoma Library. She was a homemaker and stay-at home mom, but also later worked at Boyd’s Variety Store; custodian for church; and enjoyed babysitting. Loved to play solitaire and word puzzles such as crosswords and word search as well as listen to audio books.
She is survived by her sons Jerry and wife Karen of Smith Center, KS; Larry and wife Ruth of McCook, NE; daughter Kalynn Blum and husband Ron, Wichita, KS; sister Sybil Hale of Loves Park, IL; sister-in-law Rhonda Cooley of Ft. Collins, CO; 5 grandchildren: Tonya Krueger (Mike), Tyler Blank (Emily), Jennifer Nyp (Giro de Simone), Wendy Eisenmenger (Mike) Megan Phillips (Jason); 12 great grandchildren Britney and Hunter Krueger, TyLynn, Kensly and Aadyn Blank, Lola and Luca de Simone, Ethan and Corbin Eisenmenger and Landon Blank, Tayton and Owen Phillips.
Preceding her in death were her parents, husband Theodore on July 02, 1988, brothers Darold, Lee, Noel, Roy, and Mart Cooley also a sister Ruth Macha. A celebration of Clorice’s Life will be held at 11 A.M. on Thursday, September 09, 2021, at the Peace Lutheran Church in Natoma, Kansas. Visitation will be from 9 A.M. to 11 A.M. Thursday morning at the church. In lieu of flowers memorials can be made to Peace Lutheran Church or Lutheran Hour KRSL and sent in care of the mortuary. Pohlman-Varner-Peeler Mortuary of Russell and Natoma, is in charge of the funeral service arrangements. Those comfortable wearing masks are encouraged to do so.