LUCY HAMISAK

Born as Louise Stephania on the autumnal equinox of 1917, in Breezy Hill, Kan., Lucy Hamisak died as she lived on November 11, 2009, exhibiting reticence, strength and patience.

She was the daughter and last child of Slovenian immigrants Ignac and Neza Tersina, sister of eleven, wife of Victor, mother of Carole, Virginia, Michael and Patrick, grandmother of twelve, great-grandmother of eleven, aunt of eight nieces and nephews including, especially, Barbara and Frankie Schountz, Charles Blessent and Susan Goshert.

Under restrained circumstances her childhood dream of becoming a lawyer could not be realized but beginning in her late 40s and until her death her life took a joyful turn with paint and brush. Until that time she had accomplished much of that allowed a woman of her place and time. Having completed studies in three years, she graduated as a valedictorian of the Cockerill High School Class of 1934, married, mothered and mastered many skills through her intelligence, her mental and emotional strength and her many God-given talents.

As a child she grew up in Franklin, Kansas, spent her married years in Ringo and Ft. Scott, Kansas, upon widowhood moved to St. Petersburg, Florida and returned home six years ago. Interspersed in her later years were travels to many places the most joyous being a long and successful journey through Slovenia to find family with which there had been no communication but for one letter since her mother and father came to the United States at the turn of the last century.

She leaves memories of a world which they will never experience, except through her stories, to her grandchildren: Mark and Philip Hartong, Judith Raynor, Monica Murnana children of daughter, Carole; Thomas, Joseph and John Gurskey, children of daughter, Virginia; Lorin and Damon Hamisak, children of son, Michael (deceased); Jason Hamisak, Laura Bricker, Jessica Hamisak, children of son, Patrick. And to the great-grandchildren, as well, with the latest being very recently born and given her great-grandmother's first name, Stephania -- a fitting tribute to the end of her long life.

Mass will be said at Sacred Heart Church, Frontenac, Kansas at 10:30 a.m. preceded by wake and rosary on Friday evening at 7:00 at Bedene Funeral Home in Arma, Kansas. Friends and family may gather from 6:00 to 8:00 on Friday evening and beginning at 9:00 a.m. Saturday morning for the procession to the church.

In lieu of flowers, Lucy requested that all gifts be directed to the Mt. Carmel Cemetery Fund, through Sacred Heart Church, Frontenac, Kansas.