ARKANSAS CITY -- Patricia Laverne (Sheldon) Lawson Tyler, 69, died Thursday
(Sept. 2, 1999) at Via Christi Regional Medical Center, St. Francis Campus in
Wichita. She was the sister of Juanita March of Newton.
She was born Oct. 13, 1929, in Cedar Vale to Clarence Hobart and Avis Irene
(Drury) Sheldon. She married Robert "Bob" Eldon Lawson April 7, 1950. He
preceded her in death in 1985. She married Thomas Tyler Feb.10, 1989, in
Arkansas City. He survives of the home.
She grew up in Wellington and Arkansas City, and was a 1947 graduate of Arkansas
City High School. She attended Arkansas City Junior College from 1947 to 1949,
and after completing her studies she taught in country schools in south central
Kansas until 1952. She and her husband Bob lived in LaCygne and Sedan, moving to
Arkansas City in 1960. She volunteered at Lincoln Elementary School as a reading
tutor.
She was employed at Cowley County Community College from 1979 to 1991, where she
served as a secretary and later as director of economic development.
She and her second husband Tom were active in miniature train clubs and
frequently traveled to reunions of the World War II Eighth Air Force Bomber
Group to meet with former crew members. She was an active member of Hackney
Community Baptist Church and was a previous member of Central Christian Church
and the local Home Extension Unit.
Other survivors include: two daughters, Enid Chandler of Pleasant Hill, Mo., and
Vivian Velasquez of Arkansas City; one son, Clinton Lawson of Arkansas City; two
brothers, Bill Sheldon of Arkansas City and Tom Sheldon of Mulvane; two
step-sons, Steven Tyler and Keith Tyler, both of Arkansas City; four
grandchildren; and four step-grandchildren. She also was preceded in death by
her parents and one step-son, Wayne Tyler.
Funeral services will be at 2 p.m. Saturday at First Baptist Church in Arkansas
City with Pastor Ted Brown from Hackney Community Baptist Church officiating.
Burial will be in the Memorial Lawn Cemetery.
Family will greet friends from 6 to 8 p.m. Friday at Rindt-Erdman Funeral Home
in Arkansas City.
Memorials have been established with Cowley County Community College in care of
the funeral home