Darlene Mae Sheriff

Graveside services for Darlene Mae Kuhlman Sheriff, 86, Lawrence will be held at 11:00 a.m. Friday, November 16*, 2018 at Leavenworth National Cemetery in Leavenworth, Kansas. Darlene passed away Friday, November 2, 2018 at Lawrence Memorial Hospital.

Darlene was born April 4, 1932, to Wilbur and Alice Bailey Kuhlman in Kansas City, Kansas. Darlene grew up in Kansas, Missouri, Oklahoma, Nebraska, and Colorado. She graduated high school in Cambridge Nebraska. In the eighth grade, in Wakita, Oklahoma, Darlene played in the state final basketball game.

She married Don Sheriff on October 12, 1950, in Fort Collins, CO. Don was in the Air Force. They spent another 17 years in the Air Force before Don retired. While at Offutt Air Base, Omaha, NE. Darlene started a library system in the Bellevue Grade School. She raised the money, bought the books, and gathered volunteers to maintain the library. She was named the Nebraska PTA Member of the Year for this event.

After retirement, they moved to Kansas City, KS. Darlene became a ten-year Advertising employee for the Woolworth Company. In 1977, Don and Darlene moved in with Darlene’s mother, Alice, on the family farm in southern Leavenworth County. They built a log house themselves, next to Darlene’s mother. Darlene took care of her mother until her death.

She was preceded in death by her oldest son, R. Earl Sheriff; and her parents, Wilbur and Alice Kuhlman; and a sister, Betty Dee Mohler.

Survivors include her husband, Don; two daughters, Melanie Proctor, Four Seasons, MO, Kathy Lathrom, Boston, MA; son, Howard Sheriff, Denver, CO; a sister, Barbara Lee Johnson; a brother, Howard Kuhlman; five grandchildren; and five great grandchildren.

Memorial Contributions may be made in her name to American Cancer Society and may be sent in care of Warren-McElwain Mortuary.