Demma Jean (Ingram) Diekman-Sammons, age 91, died April 4, 2019, at her home in Hays, Kansas.
She was born January 6, 1928, in Goodland, Kansas to Harvey Wootson and Gertie Mabel (Sexson) Ingram. She married Richard Herbert Diekman on December 7, 1952, at Goodland, Kansas. They later separated and he preceded her in death on October 4, 1995. She married Theodore H. “Ted” Sammons on April 20, 1984. He preceded her in death on April 24, 2004.
Demma grew up in Goodland and was a 1946 graduate of Sherman Community High School. In 1949 she received her Associate’s Degree in Education from Graceland College in Lamoni, Iowa. She taught in the rural one-room schoolhouses in Sherman and Logan Counties for a number of years.
She lived in Burlington, Colorado until 1979, then moving to Raytown, Missouri. While living in Burlington, Colorado she was the bookkeeper at the Ben Franklin store and was the primary church organist at the First St. Paul Lutheran Church. She attended the Community Church of Christ in Goodland and Kansas City, Missouri. Demma has lived in Hays since 1984 and was a member of The New Life Center Church. She enjoyed playing the organ, working on jigsaw puzzles and crossword puzzles.
Survivors include, one son, Rodney Diekman and wife, Debbie, Burlington, CO; four daughters, Susan McFarland and Linda Mayer, both of Hays, KS; Connie Bernath and husband, Paul, Crawford, NE; Reta Diekman and husband, Greg Andrew, San Rafael, CA; nine grandchildren; five great grandchildren and one great great grandchild.
She was preceded in death by her parents; her husbands; three brothers, Howard H., Kenneth P. Willian P. and Willian K. Ingram; her twin brother and sister,( Warren H. Ingram and Hallie E. Alford); four sisters, including her twin sisters, (Esther M. Middleton and Eva G. Birt); Dorthea M.H. Grabel and Marian P. Phillips.
A Celebration of Life Memorial Service will at 10:30 A.M. Saturday, April 20, 2019, at the New Life Center Church, 1701 East 22nd Street, Hays, Kansas. A private family inurnment will be at the Goodland Cemetery at a later date.
The family will receive friends from 10:00 to 10:30 A.M. Saturday, at The New life Center Church.
The family suggests memorials to the New Life Center Church and the Humane Society of the High Plains.
Services are entrusted to Cline’s-Keithley Mortuary of Hays, 1919 East 22nd Street, Hays, Kansas 67601.
Condolences can be left by guestbook at www.keithleyfuneralchapels.com or can be sent via e-mail to [email protected]