Grace Hyatt

Grace Hyatt 

Sept. 3, 1928-March 14, 2019

Grace Hyatt, Emporia, died at Newman Hospital in Emporia.  

Grace Pauline Hyatt went to be with her Lord and her husband in Heaven.  Her cowboy went to Heaven 12 years ago on Friday.  

Grace Pauline Carmean was born near Des Moines, N.M.  Her parents were Dorothy May Meier Hintergardt Carmean and Charles Pearson Carmean.  She was named for Grace Longwell who helped with the delivery.  Very, very poor, the family was rich with love in the Land of Enchantment.  Between 1928 and 1934, the family moved several times.  Grace remembered crawling up on the bed to see her baby sister, Eva, in 1932 in Springer, N.M.  Shortly afterward, the family moved by covered wagon to Miami, N.M.  During the Great Depression, many poor families moved by wagons since they did not own vehicles.  Grace began school in Miami.  The family was back near Des Moines during the Dust Bowl.  The Ken Burns documentary placed them at the epicenter of the many dust storms.  Charlie “Shorty” had severe asthma but did not move to Kansas until the middle of World War II.  They settled on the old Perkins farm at Xenia.  Ernest Edward Hyatt of Folsom, N.M., and Grace  were married at the Bourbon County Courthouse on March 21, 1946.  Grace and Ernest were going to be different from everyone when they got married.  They took a train from Fort Scott to Kansas City, Mo., to be married.  A three-day waiting period was in effect in Missouri, so they took a bus back to Fort Scott.  The bus had a flat tire in Louisburg and lost a lot of time, much to the annoyance of the passengers and soon to be newlyweds.  The courthouse closed at 5 p.m. Grace and Ernest arrived at 4:55, just in time to be married by Probate Judge George Newell Bainum.  Grace’s earlier years were spent as a homemaker and mother.  The Hyatt’s lived their entire married life in Allen and Bourbon Counties except for eight months.  They lived and worked on the XT Ranch in Folsom, N.M., in 1947 where Ernest was raised. The XT Ranch was just down the road from where Grace was raised.  

Grace was a Baptist.  She died on Pi Day.  She didn’t know about science but sure could bake pies.  She was a good cook and also enjoyed crocheting, gardening, canning, music, her coffee, animals and flowers.  She had many windmills, reminders of New Mexico.  She had one regret; she never did visit Hawaii to get a grass skirt.  She was a member of the Bronson Order of Eastern Star  No. 65 and later the Olive Chapter No. 13 of Fort Scott for over 60 years, the American Legion Auxiliary and the Kansas Woman’s Day Club.

She was preceded in death by sisters, Eva Brecheisen, Marjorie Schultz; half-sisters, Inez Carmean, Ola May Carmean, Goldie East, Amelia Wasmer and Helen Faucett and half-brothers, Frank Carmean, Chrest Hintegardt and Adolph Hindergardt.  Survivors are Randy and Betty Pierson, Clay and Randielle Houser and Calvin Houser, all of Emporia, and many cousins, nieces, nephews and friends all over the world.  

Visitation will begin at 1 p.m. Sunday at the Cheney Witt Bronson Chapel. Eastern Star Services and funeral services will follow visitation.  Burial will follow in the Bronson Cemetery where Grace will be laid to rest beside her cowboy.  Memorials are suggested to the Xenia Masonic Lodge No. 47 AF & AM, the oldest lodge west of the Mississippi River which continues to do work in the original building in which it was chartered.  A Mr. Stevenson was the wagon master that brought the Carmean ancestors to Bourbon County from Ohio.  The town was named Xenia (Z-Knee), Kansas after Xenia (Zinnia), Ohio.  In the meantime, the editor of the Xenia News moved as a Free Stater to Lawrence, Kansas and on to what he founded as Emporia, Kansas.  Preston Plumb had many connections to Emporia and both Xenias.  

Services are under the direction of the Cheney Witt Bronson Chapel, 501 Pine Street, Bronson.  Words of remembrance may be submitted to the online guestbook at cheneywitt.com.