Roberta West

Obituaries

February 14, 2018 - 12:00 AM

Roberta Mariea West, 90, Colony, passed away in the presence of her family at St. Luke’s Hospice House on Sunday, Feb. 11, 2018.
Roberta was born May 18, 1927, in rural Kansas. The eldest child of Claude and Mary (O’Dell) McGhee, she grew up near rural Colony and graduated from Le Roy High School at age 17 in 1944. On April 24, 1946, she married Robert West in a parsonage in Le Roy. After their marriage, they moved to their lifelong home in rural Colony where they raised their three children, Randall, Ronda and Kylie.
Roberta started teaching at age 17 in 1944 at Sunnyside School and retired from Westphalia Elementary School in 1989. During those years, she attended Emporia State University in the summers to achieve her teaching degree and eventually obtained her master’s degree. She taught in a one-room schoolhouse grades first through eighth at Sunnyside, Geneva, Plank and Aliceville. She then spent 11 years as a seventh-grade teacher at Le Roy, and her last 16 years teaching at Westphalia. After retiring from teaching for 42 years, she continued as substitute teacher for eight more years. Roberta was devoted to a profession she felt blessed to do. Many of her former students describe her warmth and nurturing presence as unmatched.
She was a member of Northcott Christian Church and dedicated her life to helping others. Every year she sewed quilts for missions, assembled boxes for Operation Christmas Child and purchased Bibles to send to China through the Nora Lam Institute.
Roberta is survived by her daughter Ronda West, Colony; son, Randall West and wife Karon, Colony; and daughter Kylie Moon and husband Jonathan, Lee’s Summit, Mo. She is also survived by seven grandchildren, Marilyn Cuch and husband Cameron, Roosevelt, Utah, Ryan West, Topeka, Eric West and wife Shay, Burlingame, Blake West and wife Ashley, Topeka, Brooke Connell and husband Kipp, Lenexa,  and Piper and Quinley Moon, Lee’s Summit, and 10 great-grandchildren. She is also survived by her sister Thelma Haley and husband A.D., Yuba City, Calif., and sister Sharon Voorhees and husband George, Colony; sisters-in-law Dorothy McGhee, Iola, and Shirley McGhee, Colony; and brother-in-law, Bill Stahl, Branson, Mo.
She was preceded in death by her husband,  Robert West, parents Claude and Mary McGhee, brothers Gary and Duane McGhee and sister, Mikell Stahl.
Visitation is 6-8 p.m. Friday at the Christian Church in Le Roy. Funeral services will be at 10 a.m. Saturday at the church. Burial will be in Logue Cemetery. Memorial contributions may be made to Northcott Christian Church or St. Luke’s Hospice House. Condolences can be left for the family at www.feuerbornfuneral.com.

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