BURNS

Fama Jean Burns, age 73, resident of 831 S. Margrave, Fort Scott, Kan., died Monday, March 31, 2008, at Fort Scott Manor following a long illness. She was born March 25, 1935, in Ozark, Mo., the daughter of Charles James Horst Jr. and Cuma Stewart Horst. She grew up in Ozark where she attended schools graduating from Ozark High School in 1953. On August 16, 1953, she married Thomas A. Burns of Nixa, Mo. in the Presbyterian Church of Ozark. The early years of their marriage were spent in Kansas City, Mo. with a brief return to the Ozark-Nixa area before moving to Easton, Kan. in 1961. While in Easton Fama became a member of the Easton Methodist Church and Eastern Star. She was active in the parent teacher organization in the school systems and a 4-H leader with the Lucky Clovers while her children were growing up. Fama earned her L.P.N. in 1968 from the Atchison School of Nursing, Atchison, Kan. In 1982 she achieved her R.N. from the Stormont Vail Nursing Program in Topeka, Kan. In 1986 she attended the Baylor School of Nursing in Dallas, Texas where she earned her OBGYN Nurse Practitioner license. Over the years her nursing encompassed working with veterans at the Wadsworth V. A. Center in Leavenworth, Kan.; school nursing in the Leavenworth Public Schools, and public health nursing at various locations with the majority of her years spent at the Leavenworth Public Health Department. Public health nursing was her passion and she continued it after moving back to the Ozark area in 1993. In 2003 Fama and Tom moved to Fort Scott to be closer to their children and grandchildren.

Survivors include her husband, Tom, of the home; two daughters, Sandra D. Gurss and husband Gary, Leavenworth, Kan. and Mary B. Corpstein and husband James, Fort Scott; one son, Thomas R. Burns and wife Cathy, Pittsburg, Kan. Also surviving is a sister, Annette Andrews, Rolla, Mo.; brother Weston Horst, Springfield, Mo.; eight grandchildren, Kyle Gurss, Claudia Gurss, Aaron Burns, Craig Corpstein, Charles Corpstein, Corey Corpstein, Jason Burns and Sarah Burns; many nieces, nephews and great-nieces and great nephews.

She was preceded in death by her parents, three brothers, Clifford, Arthur, and Wilford Horst and a son, James H. Burns.

The Rev. Jared Witt will conduct funeral services at 1:30 p.m. Thursday in the Cheney Witt Chapel. Burial will follow in Centerville Cemetery. The family will receive friends from 12:30 p.m. Thursday until service time at the funeral home. Memorials are suggested to either Hospice care of Kansas or the Alzheimer's Foundation and may be sent to Cheney Witt Chapel, P.O. Box 347, Fort Scott, KS 66701.

Words of comfort may be sent by e-mail to condolences@cheneywitt.com.