Relda Stites

Relda M. Stites, 75, of Silver Lake, passed away Tuesday, August 30 at Stormont Vail Regional Health Center.

She was born October 29, 1929 at Upper Allen Township, Cumberland County, Pennsylvania, the daughter of Earl M. Smith and Mary Catherine Leer Smith.

She was a graduate of Hershey Jr.-Sr. High School and attended Hershey Jr. College, both in Hershey, PA.

She was a legal secretary in Harrisburg, PA for five years and after coming to Kansas, was a legal secretary for thirty -seven years with the law firm of Rooney and Rooney, Topeka, Kansas. She was a member of Silver Lake United Methodist Church, Friends of the Silver Lake Library, and was a volunteer at Stormont Vail Regional Health Center.

She married Duane L. Stites at Miltonvale, Kansas on April 17, 1954. He survives. She is also survived by three daughters: Deborah Morton and her husband Palmer, Topeka; Glenda Kalcik and her husband Russell of Silver Lake; and Penny Freeman and her husband Denny of Olathe; grandchildren, Tanner Morton, Overland Park, Conner Morton, Topeka; Travis Kalcik and Mallory Kalcik, both of Silver Lake; Cooper, Carson and Chase Freeman, Olathe; her step-mother, Ruth Smith, Palmyra, PA; sisters, Elizabeth Smith, Dillsburg, PA; Martha Houser, Campbelltown, PA; Sandy Shumaker, New Holland, PA; one brother, Robert Smith, Williamsport, PA; one sister-in-law, Cheryl Register and her husband, Jerome, Florence, SC; eight nieces and nine nephews.

Relda was preceded in death by one sister, Ruth Williard and one nephew, Carmen Register.

Mrs. Stites will lie in state after 1:00 p.m. Friday, September 2 at Penwell-Gabel Midtown Chapel where the family will receive friends from 7:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. that evening. A funeral service will be held at 10:00 a.m. Saturday, September 3 at Silver Lake United Methodist Church with burial to follow in Silver Lake Cemetery.

Memorial contributions may be made to Silver Lake Library, Silver Lake, KS 66539 or Silver Lake United Methodist Church, Silver Lake, KS 66539.