Mary Elizabeth Hill Lambert was born in Missouri on October 20, 1939 to Lloyd B. and Elizabeth Ives Hill. The family moved to Liberal, where her father ran gas stations and her mother ran a motel.
She married Bobby Trimmell in 1960, and they moved to Elk City, Okla., then later to Norman, Okla., where he had a veterinary practice.
Mary married William Lambert in 1987 and moved back to Kansas.
She served many years as the first director of the Baker Arts Center in Liberal and was active in Beta Sigma Phi sorority and the Presbyterian Church. Mary and Bill operated a bed and breakfast in Topeka, and later renovated Ehrsam Place in Enterprise Kansas as a popular bed and breakfast.
After Bill’s death in 2004, she moved back to Liberal to care for her mother. Following Elizabeth’s death in 2010, she worked for the Kansas State Extension Office in Liberal.
In 2018, she moved to Edmond, Okla. to be near her sons, where she was one of the first residents of Villas of Edmond.
She spent many happy days with her dog, Molly and her neighbor, Charlotte, working jigsaw puzzles, walking around the building collecting rocks, and shopping at Hobby Lobby.
She was happiest watching K-State sports with her dog and a cold can of Coke by her side.
Mary passed away June 12, 2024.
She was preceded in death by her parents, Lloyd B. Hill and Elizabeth Ives Hill, her sisters Sue, Kay and Karla, and her husband William Lambert.
She is survived by her children Boyd and Sharon Trimmell of Oklahoma City, Brita Trimmell of Houma, LA and Blaine Trimmell and Michelle Schaefer of Edmond, OK. Her grandchildren are USAF Staff Sergeant Patrick Theriot, stationed in Germany, Fr. Kelly Edwards of Weatherford, OK, and Brooke Williams of Stroud OK, and two great grandchildren, Greyson Theriot and Sammie Theriot of Louisiana.
o Funeral services will be at 10 a.m. Saturday, Oct. 12 at the First Presbyterian Church in Liberal at 1551 N. Western Avenue. Guests are asked to wear her favorite color, purple.
She will be laid to rest in a purple K-State urn in her family’s section of the Liberal City Cemetery.
In lieu of flowers please make a donation to the Baker Arts Center.
Paid obituary
