Mary Anna Jenkins

Mary Anna Jenkins, age 61, rose in glory to the greater presence of God on early Sunday morning, April 30, 2017 at her home in Topeka under the extraordinary care of Great Lakes Caring Hospice (formerly Grace Hospice) and her family. She was born on September 12, 1955 to Otto M. Nelson and Odessa R. Shuart Nelson in Wichita, Kansas, where she grew up and graduated from Wichita High School South in 1973. She attended Manhattan Christian College and holds a Masters of Arts in Ministry and Culture from Phillips Theological Seminary in Tulsa, Oklahoma. She spent her life working with children and youth both in the church and in pre-school settings where she enjoyed nothing more than teaching three and four year-olds.

She met her husband David at Christian Hills Camp near Eureka, Kansas and they were married on December 27, 1975. They celebrated their 40th wedding anniversary in Hawaii year before last and bought a cabin last summer near Red Feather Lakes, Colorado and called it: "Mary's Place: Where Dreams Come True." Mary Anna and David had two children Timothy who is married to Stephanie and lives in Wichita; and Anna who is married to Brian Hinthorn and lives in Topeka. She was ecstatic with the birth of her first grandchild, Joshua David Hinthorn born just three months ago on January 26.

Mary Anna fought a long three-year battle with multiple cancers, a cranial hemorrhage, a major stroke last fall and then a series of strokes over the past two weeks. She leaves behind her husband David of 41 years; their son Timothy and his wife Stephanie; their daughter Anna and husband Brian and their son Josh; her sister Louetta (Jerry) Brooks of Sparta, Missouri; her sister Viola (Lee) Wallace of Thompson Station, Tennessee and a host of extended family and friends.

Visitation will be Wednesday, May 3 from 5:30-8:30 p.m. at Penwell-Gabel Mid-Town, 1321 SW 10th Ave in Topeka; funeral services will be Thursday at Grace Cathedral, 701 SW 8th Ave in Topeka at 10:30 a.m. with inurnment following at the Penwell-Gabel Cemetery, 3616 SW 6th Ave in Topeka.

Memorial contributions are suggested to the Disciples Center at Camp Tawakoni, 8492 SW Tawakoni Rd, Augusta, KS 67010 or to the Episcopal Church of the Covenant, 314 N Adams St, Junction City, KS 66441 or to Great Lakes Caring Hospice (formerly Grace Hospice), 3715 SW 29th St Ste 100, Topeka, KS 66614, whose extraordinary care enabled Mary Anna to pass very peacefully. May her soul and the souls of all the departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace.

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