Garfield – Darlene George Blackwell Ellings, 81, died May 5, 2007 at the Hays Good Samaritan Center, Hays, Kansas.

She was born April 16, 1926 on a farm near Otis, Kansas, the daughter of Roy and Martha Hinkle George. A former resident of Garfield, Larned, Thayer, Great Bend, Preston, residing last in Hays to be near family. She worked at the Barton County Extension Office, and for Kansas Power and Light in Great Bend, she retired as Clerical Secretary with the Department of Wildlife and Parks in 1991.

She was a member of the St. Paul Lutheran Church, Preston, a sixty year member of the American Legion Auxiliary, Garfield; she was active in the annual Relay for Life.

On August 28, 1943 she married George Parker Blackwell in Washington D.C. He died April 13, 1967. On January 20, 1968 she married Elmer Richard Ellings at Great Bend. He died August 20, 1988.

Survivors include: a son, Roger Blackwell, Neosho, Missouri; a daughter Marsha Kapalka, and husband Don, Arlington, Texas; a step daughter, Cyndy Ferguson, Hutchinson; three grandchildren, Emily Blanchette and husband, Dave, Becky Sandoval and husband Trey, Zach Kapalka; and four great-grandchildren, numerous nieces and nephews and friends.

She was also preceded in death by a step-daughter, Linda Ellings, four sisters, Verneda Kahler, LaVergne Aldrich, Althea Liberton, Marjorie Ella Malara.

Funeral will be at 2 p.m. Thursday, May 10, 2007 at the Beckwith Mortuary Chapel, Larned with Rev. Michael Schotte presiding. Friends may call from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. Wednesday and Thursday at the mortuary. Burial will be in the Garfield Cemetery, Garfield, Kansas.

Memorials may be sent to the St. Paul's Lutheran Church, Hays Good Samaritan Center, or Hays Medical Center Hospice Care in care of Beckwith Mortuary, Inc. P.O. box 477, Larned, KS 67550.