Ora Mae Irby
December 17, 1931 - November 11, 2023
Ora Mae's Life Story (written by Ora Mae)
I was born into the family of Carroll Earl Kennedy and Olive Blanche (Lee) Kennedy on December 17, 1931, who already had four children. Carroll Earl Jr. (Ken) was the oldest, then Ilene Ardelia, Roma Lee and Olive Ruth, then me! I’m not sure they were real pleased when I popped out – another girl!)
We were living in Hunter, Kansas at the time and Daddy ran a grocery store – Momma helped there some – I don’t know how much – but we had a “hired girl” who stayed with us when Momma wasn’t home, and she would sing songs to us. They were sad songs. “The East Bound Train Was Crowded”, “A Vine Covered Shack”, “Letter Edged in Black” and so on – and I would lay on the shelf under the table and cry and cry. We were still living in Hunter when one morning we were all told that we had another sister – she was supposed to be Daniel Josephus LDS after Grandpa Kennedy – but she was Doris Jean instead (another girl).
It was during the dust storm days – and that was bad enough! But all of us kids managed to get the measles at the same time during a real bad dust storm. Momma had to hang wet towels up to the window to keep the dust from coming in around the windows.
I remember there was a “Billy Goat” in town and every time I went to town – that “Billy Goat” would chase me up the stairs beside the grocery store! We kids were playing “Hide & Seek” and I hid on the floor in the back seat of our car – but they didn’t have to look for me because there was broken glass on the floor from the accident that had happened when Daddy and Mommy had gone to the World’s Fair in Topeka. Anyway, as you can imagine. I yelled real loud when I knelt on the floor.
I don’t know when Daddy opened a store in Abilene so of course we moved to Abilene – I can’t remember too much about living there but it was a bad time for our family because Daddy lost the store, so Momma made handmade men’s neckties and the older kids had to sell them. It was while Momma was making the ties, Ruth was giving me a bath in the washtub in the kitchen and Ruth said If I didn’t sit still, she would pour hot water on my head and I must have not sat still because she took the tea kettle from the stove and poured that water on my head!
I did attend kindergarten in Abilene; however, I only attended one day because some little boy teased me because I didn’t get my picture all done!! So, I wouldn’t go back – I guess that was not a good deal because that was during the time Momma was making ties and that was the least of their worries.
Shortly after that we moved to Colby where Daddy and Momma ran a feed and grain store or something like that. I remember very little about school in Colby except I guess the 1st grade teacher thought I should take the first grade over, but the 2nd grade teacher said she would help me! But I should have stayed in the 1st grade!! We lived in three different homes while in Colby – the last two houses were closer to the railroad tracks (which was where the folks worked) and we always walked to school. When I started 5th grade we moved to Ogden, Kansas because Daddy had a job at Fort Riley. It was a small town close to the base. I enjoyed school there because the 5th and 6th grade were in the same room, so I really learned 6th grade twice!!
That was when we first started going to church more – at least I remember. That was when I realized I needed Jesus. The speaker was from the Christian Bible College in Manhattan, Kansas. I wanted to go forward, but I thought everyone would think it was awful – because my daddy was the Sunday School superintendent, and I should have already been a Christian! Anyway, I was baptized in the Christian Church in Junction City, Kansas.
We moved to Manhattan, Kansas the summer before my 7th grade, which made it easy for me because everyone came from different grade schools to the Jr. High building. This was when I became interested in singing and I was accepted into “The Robed Choir” with my two good friends in high school. We thought we were so good because 9th graders were not usually in “The Robed Choir.” My folks let me take voice lessons and I was told I was ready for solo work. Ha! Ha!
Between my junior and senior year in high school, Daddy was transferred from Fort Riley to Forbes Air Force Base in Topeka. My folks let me continue voice lessons in Topeka – well that was a BLOW. I wasn’t standing properly nor breathing correctly, so basically, I started from the beginning again!! Since I had planned on going to K-State had we stayed in Manhattan, I had only two classes to take to finish high school. So, at Topeka High, I took “Retail Selling” and worked downtown in the afternoons.
We attended the Topeka Bible Church. That is when I met two girls who also just moved to Topeka. Ruth and I and Faye and Virginia Moore started singing double duets. Sometimes it was more giggling than singing.
After I graduated from Topeka High in 1949, I had decided I wanted to go to Moody Bible Institute in Chicago. But I had to wait until January 1950 because I had to be 18 before I could be accepted. Roma Lee met me at the train station and went with me to Moody. But since I didn’t speak to anyone and of course they were all new – the new students had to be there early for orientation. Anyway after supper I called Roma Lee, who was attending Wheaton College, I told her I wanted to go home because “no one spoke to me.” So she called a friend that she had known at Moody and he called his girlfriend and she and some of her girls came to my room. They helped me with my trunk to my room, so I was fine then. I didn’t do real well because my roommate Geraldine Ruhl and I played “ping-pong” most of the time. I really only attended Moody about three terms when my thyroid started me shaking real bad. I’d get up in conducting class and they couldn’t tell too well if I was conducting or just shaking, so the school nurse put me on the phenobarbital four times a day, then something else to keep me awake in class! So, when I went home for Christmas, Roma Lee insisted I go see the doctor! I did and had my thyroid removed with radioactive iodine. Because Moody was changing from term basis to semester, and I would have had to start all over most of my classes, I never continued.
I worked at “Pelletier’s Department Store” which is where I worked during high school for Retail Selling until I started as a draftsman at Southwest Bell Telephone company. My supervisor had a nervous breakdown (no, I don’t think it was my fault). I learned after I married, he was a distant relative of Grandma Inez – he was Ralph Wing and his wife came to our home when we had the Wing reunion.
I met Darrol Irby at Roma Lee’s wedding in Bogue (She had helped open the hospital in WaKeeney and met Don Irby). Shortly after their wedding, Darrol started going to K.U. Medical Center to have surgery on his lip and mouth. He always stopped in Topeka. To make a long story short we were married in the First Baptist Church in Topeka on October 17, 1964, and moved to the farm south of Bogue.
Needless to say – I had never even tried to learn to cook nor had I ever lived on a farm before!! Poor Darrol!! But he never complained – even when he would come home for dinner and find the “slow cooker” sitting in the snow with the dinner burnt!!
Our first daughter, Sara, was born October 1, 1955; on July 28, 1957, our second daughter Janet was born; on October 15, 1960, our third daughter Christina was born; on November 15, 1961, our first son, Siegle was born. Darrol was so excited when he called my folks, to let them know – the nurse said he really didn’t need a phone. And again, on July 13, 1963, Murlin was born. Darrol remodeled our four-room home into a nine-room home with a half-basement recreation room. Darrol passed away on November 12, 1997.
A lot of changes happened. Siegle moved home to help me keep things going, but in 2008 we had a chance to sell the farm and pay off the bank and still have enough to buy a home in Bogue. Murlin bought 20 acres(?) where the house and outbuildings are. I bought a nice three-bedroom home at 405 9th Street in Bogue which has been a good home for me.
Obituary
Ora Mae Kennedy Irby died November 11, 2023, surrounded by family. She was born December 17, 1931, to Carrol Earl Kennedy and Olive Blanche Lee Kennedy in Hunter, Kansas.
After graduating from Topeka High in 1949, she attended Moody Bible Institute in Chicago, Illinois. Because of illness, she was only in Moody for about five terms.
She worked in the Pelletier Department Store until she worked as a draftsman at Southwestern Bell Telephone Company in Topeka.
She married Darrol Wayne Irby on October 17, 1954, in Topeka.
After their five children were grown, she started working part-time as a substitute at Bogue Grade School and worked as an outreach instructor for Colby Community College, teaching basic education to mentally handicapped adults at the Kobler Center in Hill City. She retired after working for 25 years.
She was a member of the Bogue Community United Methodist Church. Music was very important to her, and she helped with the choir for many years, serving many different committees helping youth choir, teaching Bible studies, and a member of U.M.W. in which she held a district office. Ora Mae was also a member of the American Legion Auxiliary, T.P.M. Church, Bridge Club and Pinochle Club. Ora Mae loved her Lord, her family, and her music.
She is survived by her five children: Sara (Bill) Seller of Oberlin, Janet (Darel) Reynolds of Agra, Christina (Craig, deceased) Green of Livingston, Tennessee, Siegle (Clint) Irby-Duncan of Bogue, and Murlin (Joy) Irby of Bogue; 15 grandchildren; 23 great-grandchildren; a sister, Ruth Norsworthy of Raleigh, North Carolina; and sister-in-law Lois Kennedy of Manhattan.
Ora Mae was preceded in death by her husband, Darrol Irby; parents, Carroll Earl and Olive Branch Kennedy; mother-in-law, Inez Irby; brother, Ken Kennedy; sisters, Doris Woods, Roma Lee Irby, Ilene Wallace; and grandson, Andrew Green.
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