Erma Lee Stites

Erma Lee Stites, age 96, La Cygne, Kansas passed away Thursday, November 21, 2024. She wasborn on April 11, 1928, in Linn County, Kansas, the daughter of Fred and Lucy Carothers. Erma Lee grew up on the family farm outside of LaCygne, only a couple of miles away from her future husband, Robert Lee Stites. She graduated from Parker High School, and after graduation, she worked for a couple of years in Kansas City for BMA Insurance company near Union Station. She and Lee were united in marriage on October 3, 1948. Although she had told her sisters that she wouldn’t have any kids—she’d have dogs, instead—Alvin and Naomi were born not long after (she never got the dogs).

Although she and Lee left farming early in their marriage, throughout the rest of her life she always wanted to know how the crops were doing and what was happening on the farm. She wasn’t afraid to get dirty and was even known to climb up in the cab to tag along with Clayton when he was hauling grain to the city.

But she also enjoyed the finer things in life. She loved to entertain and serve dinners for people—usually under candlelight, much to Lee’s consternation. She meticulously served everything in the proper dish and with the proper utensils. And she kept a meticulous home. She enjoyed going out to eat at nice restaurants, going to concerts, and making sure the family was exposed to culture—making a family event of going to the Treasure of the Czars and the Dead Sea Scrolls traveling exhibits, among others.

Erma Lee was a member of the La Cygne United Methodist Church, United Methodist Women, and P.E.O. She enjoyed baking, cooking, sewing, gardening and flowers. She was an avid bridge player who was both quite good and quite competitive. While she and Lee were living in Nebraska, she even became a very good bowler. But the most important thing to her was her family. She was proud of all her family, without exception, and would take any opportunity to let anyone who would listen know just how proud of her family she was.  Lee preceded Erma Lee in death on October 2, 2003. She is survived by her son, Alvin Stites, daughter, Naomi Simmonds, brother, Clayton Carothers (Grace), three sisters, Elizabeth Hubler, Ruth Ellen Stainbrook, and Carol Clark, four grandchildren, Leigh Pfeiffer, Saundra Hale, Rex Stites, and Ronn Simmonds, eight great grandchildren, and seven great great grandchildren.

Funeral service will be 2 pm Sunday, November 24, 2024, at the Schneider Funeral Home and Crematory, La Cygne Chapel. Burial will be in Prairie Home Cemetery. Visitation will be held from 5 to 7 pm Saturday, November 23, at the La Cygne Chapel. Memorial contributions are suggested to the La Cygne United Methodist Church or P.E.O. Scholarship Fund.