Obituaries

Joel Leonard Curtis, 75, died Sunday, March 9, 2025. 

He was born May 6, 1949 to Joel Clint (J.C.) and Velma (Raines) Curtis.

He graduated from Liberal High School in 1967, after which he served in the United States Army. Joel was later honorably discharged in 1970 with a National Defense Service Medal.

ULYSSES – Carolyn Louise Welch, 89, died Friday, March 7, 2025 at St. Catherine Hospital in Garden City.

She was born Aug. 4, 1935 to William and Helen (Mannschreck) Smith.

She married Bobby Joe Welch April 9, 1954. He survives.

She was a homemaker who loved sewing, gardening, cooking, canning and baking.

ULYSSES – Norma Lee “Toy” McCauley, 93, died Monday, March 10, 2025 at Harry Hynes Memorial Hospice in Wichita. 

She was born Dec. 27, 1931 to Fred Norman and Anita Helen (Cotton) Hammer. 

She married Robert “Bob” McCauley June 7, 1950. He preceded her in death.   

Bessie June Andersen, 94 years wise, of Liberal, passed away March 8, 2025 in Liberal.

June was the youngest of five children, adopted by Richard Willis and Nettie Pearl Boyd.

Born May 19, 1930, in Kansas City, Mo., June was raised on a farm outside Meade. She drove a tractor by the age of 8 preferring to work with her dad in the fields rather than assist Mom and sisters in the kitchen. She never wavered from that preference!