Elizabeth Jean Daniels

Elizabeth Jean Badders Daniels, 97, Topeka, KS died on August 2, 2020. She was born in Topeka on September 15, 1922 to George Swiler and Ruby (Byers) Badders. She was the third child, joining sisters Madeleine and Jane. Their maternal grandfather, W.A. Byers also lived with the family. Brother George Jr. was born in 1924 soon after the family moved into a brick Prairie-style house (built by well-known local builder and house designer L. F. Garlinghouse) in the College Hill area of Topeka. Jean attended local schools Randolph Elementary and Boswell Junior High. For a time, the Washburn College President and his family lived next door. So the nearby Washburn College was where the children played, rode their bikes, and made a secret clubhouse in a spidery space under the stairs of one of the old buildings on campus. The Badders children often visited Grandpa Byers' farm in Doniphan County in the summer, staying in the old farmhouse, cooling off in the creek and pranking each other on trips to the outhouse.

Like most of the family, Jean was a devoted reader growing up and throughout her life. As a child, she looked forward to new books in the Wizard of Oz series. She also loved watching the hired cook Gertrude work in the kitchen (and helping eat test cakes) as well as helping her Grandpa garden and do house maintenance. The Great Depression hit the family hard. Grandpa died in 1932. Her father's Ford dealership Badders Motor Company, went bankrupt and he was also forced to sell the business property at 6th and Gage where tourist cabins, a miniature golf course, The Old Mill Dance Hall, and an outdoor wrestling ring had helped support the family. To make ends meet, the garlow above the garage was rented out. The family also rented rooms on the 3rd floor of their home to Washburn law students. One of these law students became a member of the family when he eloped with Jean's eldest sister in 1938!

In her teens, Jean was active in the Grace Cathedral Young Peoples group partly because the group was sponsored by a wonderful couple and mostly because the cutest boys attended. (The boys joined because they had to go to a certain number of activities to play on the church baseball team.) Jean graduated from Topeka High School in 1940 and enrolled at Washburn College, taking as many art classes as she could. But with WWII heating up, Jean soon quit school to take an essential job in bookkeeping at the Kansas Gas Service Company.

Jean and her sister Jane were active in the USO during WWII and attended dances for the men who were training at Forbes Army Air Force Base and sometimes Calvary officers from Ft Riley. The sisters were asked to pick the music because they knew what was danceable and had a large record collection of their own. They often corresponded with young men who wanted someone to write to after they went overseas. Some of the most memorable young men Jean and her friends spent time with were "Rip" and "Shelley" (Harold Ripslinger and Guy Shelley) of the ill-fated Lady Be Good B-24D.

Jean and Jane joined the Civil Air Patrol and learned to fly small aircraft. Jean's Flight Instructor watched her first solo flight from the ground with considerable trepidation as he had just found out she had poor depth perception due to strabismus. He watched her try to land--coming in so low her landing gear was about to catch a fence. But Jean pulled the plane up at the last minute, circled Phillip Billard airport and came around for a perfect landing.

When Jean and Jane heard about the Army's need for civilian workers in Hawaii, they signed up for the duration of the war and 6 months. There were many adventures both getting to Hawaii (with fears of Japanese submarines in the Pacific) and during the time they spent working at Hickam Field on the island of Oahu. They returned to Topeka in the summer of 1946 and both young women enrolled at Washburn College that fall. The Dean of Women asked them to help revive the Independent Women's Association, a Greek-alternative organization established to allow local girls to participate more fully in campus life. As IWA's candidate, Jean won Homecoming Queen. She was active in various on-campus organizations and invited to join the women's honor society NONOSO.

Jean was a football fan her entire life. As a child, she played football with the neighborhood boys and they walked to the Washburn home football games. Children were admitted free if they were under a certain height. They sat with other kids known as The Knot-Hole Gang. She attended Washburn football games whenever possible for over 70 years, last attending a game in August of 2019. So it wasn't at all surprising that she was attracted to a good-looking Tackle named Steve Daniels who played on the football team while she was taking classes at Washburn. Jean graduated from Washburn with a math degree in 1948. On August 6, 1949 she married Stephen Daniels. They lived in west Texas, Oklahoma, and Topeka. In 1952 ,concerned with being drafted during the Korean conflict, Steve joined the US Coast Guard. Jean and Steve spent several years in Connecticut and Boston. After they found out they were expecting their first child, Steve left regular service and joined the Coast Guard Reserves. The couple moved to Oklahoma City.

Jean had worked as a junior high teacher, statistician and bookkeeper before becoming a full- time mother in 1954. While she hadn't cared for babysitting or playing with dolls during her growing up years, Jean loved being a mother. She devoted herself to her children, reading them bedtime stories, devising elaborate birthday hunts and parties, taking them to gymnastics, music, dance, theater and swimming lessons, plus helping them with their school work. She was always there for them. After Jean's mother died in 1962, the family moved from Oklahoma to Topeka, purchasing Jean's childhood home in College Hill. As a family, the Daniels enjoyed traveling to local museums and historic sites on weekends. Steve's work as a salesman for Steel Fixtures Manufacturing Company took him to various locations throughout the United States. Jean and the children sometimes joined him to visit National Parks and sight-see in many different states.

After her children were grown, Jean returned to work part-time. She thought working on the 1980 Census was so much fun they shouldn't have been paying her. She also worked downtown at the retail stores El Rancho Rugs and the Palace Treasury Gift Shop. She was active as an Alumni Sponsor for NONOSO and as a member and officer of the Nautilus Study Club of College Hill. She helped care for her beloved granddaughters after they were born. Jean enjoyed good health and kept active (mowing the yard herself until she was well into her 80th decade!) She always considered herself the luckiest person who ever lived until January of 2015. During cataract surgery, one of her vertebrae was crushed. The pain and inactivity triggered congestive heart failure, atrial fibrillation and other health issues. Although she had given up driving, Jean had been active making her own breakfast, paying bills, doing laundry, journaling daily, keeping up with household tasks and caring for the family pets. After the cataract surgery, she never did any of those things again. The calendar by her desk still is open to January 2015. Jean did recover enough to attend some concerts, go to family get-togethers, start reading again, and attend some Washburn basketball and football games. A stroke in 2018 affected her mobility and cognitive abilities but she was able to continue living at home with the nearly constant care from daughter Celia, other family, neighbors, and Midland Hospice until a week before her death.

Jean is proceeded in death by her husband, son-in-law Ron Pederson and all her siblings: Madeleine (C. H. "Bud") Palmer, Jane (John) Klefstad, George Badders. She is survived by her children Kurt (Nancy) Daniels, Topeka, Cynthia Pederson, Mound City, MO, and Celia Daniels, Topeka plus granddaughters Chelsea (Ian) Pitts, Lawrence and Sheridan (Kyle) Myers, Loveland, CO and great-granddaughter Aurora Myers as well as sister-in-law Patricia Badders.

Graveside services will be 11am Wednesday, August 5, 2020 at Mount Hope Cemetery. Memorial contributions may be made to Stephen Daniels Washburn Football Athletic Scholarship or KTWU Public Television c/o Penwell-Gabel Funeral Home, 1321 SW 10th Ave, Topeka, KS 66604.

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