Twyla Marie (Been) Middleton was born on April 19, 1927 in Brewster, Kansas and passed away on Thursday, January 18, 2024 in Topeka, Kansas. The youngest of 2 girls she had fond memories of growing up in a small town and visits with grandmothers, (accidentally) dropping puppies down the outhouse hole, and playing games in the evening with her sister and parents.

When she was a teenager, she went rolling skating in Goodland with a group of friends and, when she returned home, told her mother she had met the man she was going to marry. True to her word, they were soon engaged but WWII was in full swing, and her dear sweetheart was drafted into the US Army. They decided to wait to marry until he was able to return home on leave. It was several months before he unexpectedly got a delay-in-route so showed up in Goodland, unannounced. The next day, October 4, 1945, Twyla married her high school sweetheart, Glen Edward Middleton.

After a 1-day honeymoon in Denver, Glen had to make his way back to base. When he was discharged, they made their home in Goodland where she soon settled into being a mother to a daughter. Soon after they had a son who died only a few hours after his birth. Undaunted, a few years later they were blessed with another son. Lured by the promise of a better job for Glen and proximity to family, in 1966 they moved to Topeka.

Twyla was active in her church, eventually being ordained into the priesthood of the Community of Christ. In Goodland she was employed at the hospital and a doctor’s office and in Topeka with Shoppers City store in 1966 before being hired to work for Volume Shoe (later called Payless Shoe Source) where she retired in 1983.

After retirement she and Glen loved to travel and did so every chance they got from family trips to just pointing the motor home in a direction and driving till they stopped. They were winter Texans for several years. Twyla and Glen visited 49 of the 50 states as well as Mexico and Canada. Twyla volunteered at Stormont Vail Hospital for many years where her favorite job was playing with and sometimes holding the babies. She was an avid bowler and bowled in a league well into her 80’s. She proudly displayed her many trophies on a special shelf in her home. For many years she enjoyed painting ceramics and was quite gifted - family and many friends proudly display her work.

Family was very important to Twyla and she doted on her children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren as well as nephews and nieces. She and Glen were married for 70 years before he passed away in 2016. While missing him dearly, she continued to care for her family as long as she could.

Twyla is preceded in death by her parents Barney and Inez Been; an infant son Ronald Glen; sister O’Ella Marolf; and a sister-of-the-heart Iona Luckert.

Twyla is survived by her daughter Linda (Woody) Houseman of Berryton; son Gary (Sarah) Middleton of Berryton; daughter-of-the-heart Ruth Humbert of Berryton; daughter-of-the-heart Marla (Ken) Morse of Topeka; daughter-of-the-heart Cheryl (Kelvin) Hohner of Minneapolis, Kansas; and a son-of-the-heart Richard (Laura) Luckert of Venice, Florida; 22 grandchildren, 25 great-grandchildren, 3 great-great-grandchildren and many nieces and nephews.

Services will be held at 1:00 p.m. Monday, January 22, 2024 at Dove Southeast Chapel, 2843 SE Minnesota Ave. where the family will receive friends one hour prior to service time. Burial will follow in Pleasant Hill Cemetery southeast of Topeka.

Twyla's service will be livestreamed at the scheduled service time. Click here to view the service.

In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be given to Topeka Community of Christ, 5252 SW 19th Street, Topeka, Kansas 66604.

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