ANN H. JETER
Ann H. Jeter of Hays, beloved mother, grandmother, longtime arts advocate, and friend to many, died at Hays Med on Sunday, October 30, 2011. She was 95 years old.
Annie Haley Horton Jeter was born August 13, 1916, in Manhattan, Kansas, to Margaret Ann (Huston) and William Ryneck Horton. She grew up in Atwood, Kansas. Ann attended the University of Kansas in Lawrence and graduated from UCLA with a B.A. in History in 1939. She was a member of Pi Beta Phi sorority.
Ann married Norman W. Jeter, a Hays lawyer, on December 21, 1940. As a resident of Hays, she undertook many volunteer activities, including: twenty-five years continuous service as a Gray Lady for the American Red Cross; organizer and past president of the Ladies Auxiliary at Hadley Regional Medical Center; board member and past president of the Hays Public Library; an organizer and charter member of the Ellis County Historical Society; and board member of the Hays United Fund. In 1987, she was a recipient of the Distinguished Service Award from Fort Hays State University.
In addition, Ann became very involved in promoting the arts in Kansas. Beginning in the 1960s, she helped found the Hays Arts Council, serving as a board member for six years and president for one year. She was also an organizer, board member and president of the Association of Community Arts Councils of Kansas. In 1980, she was appointed by Gov. John Carlin to the board of the Kansas Arts Commission and appointed president in 1983.
Ann had many other accomplishments in culture and the arts. As chairman of the Interior Design Committee of Hadley Regional Medical Center, she helped introduce to Western Kansas the concept of Institutional Patron of the Visual Arts. Today the Hadley Art Collection is the largest collection of original art in the Western half of Kansas. Along with her husband, Norman Jeter, she received the 1997 Governor’s Arts Award for her outstanding contribution to the art community, presented by the Honorable Bill Graves, Governor of Kansas, and the Kansas Arts Commission.
She was a member of the BQ chapter of PEO, Sewing Club, Book Club, the Courtney-Spalding chapter of DAR, and the “Crafters” of the Hays Med Volunteers. She enjoyed traveling, especially to Europe, with the Friends of Art of the Nelson-Atkins Museum in Kansas City, and loved to host family holidays and other family gatherings at her home in Hays.
Ann is survived by her daughter, Margaret Doan and her husband Alan of Parkville, Missouri; and three sons: Joseph W. Jeter and his wife Cheryl of Hays, William W. Jeter and his wife Nancy of Hays, and Dr. John H. Jeter and his wife Ann Marie of Hays. She is also survived by her sister-in-law Mary Ellen Horton of Atwood, as well as eight grandchildren, five step-grandchildren, nine great-grandchildren, and nine step-great-grandchildren.
Ann was preceded in death by her parents; her husband of sixty-eight years, Norman; brother William R. Horton; sister Hortense Beck and her husband Dr. Joseph D. Beck; and half-sister Naomi Nash and her husband Charlie.
Funeral services will be held at the First Presbyterian Church, 29th and Hall in Hays, on Friday, November 4, 2011, at 10:30 a.m., with pastor Jerry Foust officiating. Interment will be at the Mount Allen Cemetery in Hays. The family will receive friends from 5:00 to 7:00 p.m. on Thursday, November 3, at Hays Memorial Chapel Funeral Home, 20th and Pine, Hays, Kansas. Memorials may be given in Ann’s name to the Hays Arts Council or the Hays Medical Center Foundation in care of the Funeral Home.
Arrangements made by Hays Memorial Chapel Funeral Home. Condolences may be sent to the family at www.haysmemorial.com.