Velma Nadine (Ard) Kinney, 78, of Iola died Tuesday, May 4, 2010, at Iola Nursing Center.
She was born Feb. 15, 1932, on the family farm west of Elsmore, to George and Lorene (Deer) Ard. She grew up in Elsmore and graduated from Elsmore High School.
She was married to Walter L. Kinney, and they had four children, Robert, Linda, Steven and Darrell before they parted company. She then met and married Arthur Jaro in 1960 and along with him came five children, Mary Jane, Lonnie, Joyce, Donna Kay and Donald Ray to form one family. She and Walter Kinney were remarried in 1998.
She had made her home in Allen County most of her life. She owned and operated the Cherry Blossom Cafe in Moran at one time, sold Stanley products, Tupperware and Avon and retired from Midland Brake in Iola.
She was a member of the Elsmore United Methodist Church and the women’s organization in the church. She enjoyed making wedding cakes and cakes for other special occasions, crocheting, sewing, embroidering, gardening, canning, traveling, fishing and camping.
She is survived by her husband of the home; eight children, Linda Bonner and her husband, Donnie, Kansas City, Mo., Steven Kinney and his wife, Denise, Houston, Texas, Darrell Kinney, Cambridge, Mass., Mary Jane Baker and her husband, Rodney, Bevier, Mo., Joyce Brooks and her husband, Gerry, Raytown, Mo., Donna Kay Bach and her husband, Chris, San Francisco, Calif., Lonnie Jaro and his wife, Teresa, Humboldt, and Donald Ray Jaro and his wife, Anna Marie, Lowry City, Mo.; a daughter-in-law, Betty Kinney, Lowry City; a brother, Dewayne Ard and his wife, Janice, Humboldt; two sisters, Laura Lee Shy, Blue Springs, Mo., and Alice Faye Mazurek and her husband, Jerry, Tecumseh, Mich.; and a number of grandchildren, great-grandchildren, nieces and nephews.
A son, Robert Kinney, died in 2005, and a great-granddaughter, Zoey Renee Ebelt, a sister, Delorse Zornes, and two brothers-in-law, Roy Shy and Ronald Zornes, died earlier.
Visitation will be from 6 to 8 p.m. Friday at Waugh-Yokum and Friskel Memorial Chapels in Iola.
Funeral services will be at 11 a.m. Saturday at Elsmore United Methodist Church. Burial will be in Elsmore Cemetery.
Memorials to Allen County Hospice may be left at the funeral home. Online condolences for the family may be left at iolafuneral.com.
Velma Kinney
