Stella Fern Lockard

Stella Fern Lockard, 92, died Monday, Oct. 23, 2023, at her home in south Tecumseh.

She was born March 25, 1931, in Lawrence, the daughter of Jesse James and Fern Augusta Schulz Carney. She took tap dance lessons in her youth and her father took her along on deliveries to have her sing and dance for his poultry and seed customers. She graduated from Liberty Memorial High School in Lawrence in 1949 then stepped right up and enrolled in college. She was a one and done at the University of Kansas, where she said she danced a pas de deux in the school talent show with a gigantic basketball player named Clyde. She later became a member of the American Guild of Variety Artists and performed acrobatic stunts and balancing acts with a partner at schools, county fairs, city carnivals and whatnot. She worked at TARC in Topeka for many years.

Stella was good at arts and crafts, and she tried out interesting recipes in the kitchen once in a while. She had been a member of the former Southwest Baptist Church in Topeka and later Topeka Bible Church, the Gideon's Auxiliary and a few bridge clubs. She lived the last 50 plus years of her life in a lakefront home and never got in the water and she didn't fish.

She married Henry A. Lockard II on Sept. 23, 1951, in Lawrence. He died in 2006. They contributed four offspring to the boomer generation, all of whom were beneficiaries of Stella's daily prayers. She also dispensed the occasional paddling. A routine Sunday afternoon project would be to load the family in the car to go visit the grandparents. The parental guidance portion of the early driver's manual must have included a parental guidance portion with standardized methods for keeping the kids seated. That was Stella's assignment - keep the kids in line, or else! Or else Hank would stop the car or turn it around. Never happened.

Survivors include a daughter, Margie Young, Tecumseh; three sons, Hal and Matt, both in Topeka, and Chuck, Tecumseh; a brother, Buster Carney, Lawrence; a sister, JoAnne Connell, Shawnee; eight grandchildren, one step-grandchild; nine great-grandchildren; and a few more step-great-grandchildren.

She was preceded in death by a brother, Donald Carney, in March this year.

Services will be at 1 p.m. Nov. 8 at Dove Cremations & Funerals Southeast Chapel, 2843 SE Minnesota Ave. Inurnment will be at West Lawn Memorial Gardens. Visitation will be from 5 to 7 p.m. Nov. 7 at the funeral chapel.

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

Memorial contributions may be made to The Gideon's International, P.O. Box 97251, Washington, DC 20090-7251 or to TARC Inc., 2701 S.W. Randolph Ave., Topeka, KS 66611. Or sent in care of the funeral chapel.

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