Clelia Elaine Towns

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Clelia Elaine Towns, 92, died Monday, July 14, 2008, at Garden Valley Retirement Village in Garden City.

She was born Feb. 16, 1916, in Byers, to Donald R. and Emma C. Wasson Brown.

A resident of Garden City since 1971, moving from northern Haskell County, Mrs. Towns was a homemaker. From 1936 to 1938, she taught at Pleasant Valley School, a one-room school house that is now located at Lee Richardson Zoo. She was a member of the First United Methodist Church of Garden City, where she was a past president of the United Methodist Women. She also belonged to the Social Order of the Beauceant and was past matron of Order of the Eastern Star.

On April 23, 1938, she married Vern L. Towns in Sublette. He died April 2, 1983. She also was preceded in death by four brothers.

Survivors include three sons, Donald V. Towns of Garden City, Jack LeRoy Towns of Caddo, Okla., and Gale L. Towns of Houston; two daughters, Melva E. Smith of House Springs, Mo., and Carol Beth Dick of Grand Rapids, Mich.; a brother, Virgil Brown of Shreveport, La.; two sisters, Mildred Leatherbury of Hutchinson, and Erma Skinner of Branson, Mo.; 13 grandchildren; and several great-grandchildren.

Funeral will be 10:30 a.m. Friday at the First United Methodist Church in Garden City, with the Rev. David Bell officiating. Burial will be at Sunset Memorial Gardens in Garden City.

Visitation hours are 1 to 8 p.m. Thursday at Price & Sons Funeral Home in Garden City. Condolences may be sent at www.priceandsons.com. Memorials are suggested to the First United Methodist Church Scholarship Fund or the Alzheimer's & Dementia Association, both in care of the funeral home, 620 N. Main St., Garden City, KS 67846.