Florine Creek

Florine Creek 1920-2022

Florine Creek, longtime resident of Lake Quivira, Kansas, and of Lawrence, passed away on Nov. 2, 2022 at the age of 102.  Florine was born Mary Florine Meenan in Bisbee, Arizona, on April 16,1920.  Her parents Patrick J. Meenan and Lenora Callahan, were both American born children of 19 ^th century Irish immigrants.  In 1942 Florine graduated from Arizona State University at Tempe (BFA-Music) and met and married Roy E. Creek of Portales, New Mexico.  Colonel Creek, who became a decorated veteran of World War II and a career U.S. Army officer, was Florine’s partner in life for 74 years.  When he retired from his military career in 1967, he and Florine moved to the Kansas City area where he worked as a hospital administrator for the University of Kansas Hospital in Kansas City.  Roy preceded Florine in death in 2016.

Florine lived the very active life of a regularly uprooted army wife and mother, but she went above and beyond in welcoming and helping others, sometimes on her own and sometimes in an organized volunteer capacity. During the Vietnam War, she headed up a local division of the Army Emergency Relief organization to help young military wives and widows understand their rights and provide compassionate care. Her work and the similar work of other Army wives evolved into the Army Community Service (ACS) group that still provides these services today.

Florine volunteered for many organizations throughout her life. She also taught elementary school one year, served as a substitute teacher and worked as a social worker in the Kansas City area for several years, providing assistance to the elderly in connecting them with services they needed and working on their eligibility for nursing home care. But she always made time for fun and her big passions – bridge, which she played at least twice a week throughout her life, golf and reading her mystery novels.

She was known for her hospitality and loved entertaining people and welcoming them with home-cooked meals. Her Catholic faith was a central part of her life, and she shared her talents as an accomplished pianist and organist with the church throughout her life. She also shared this talent with her family and friends, and memories of standing around the piano or organ singing are cherished.

What truly characterized Florine the most was her big smile, the ever-present twinkle in her eyes and the song, hum or whistle always on her lips.

She and Roy moved to Lawrence in 2003, and she was living with her daughter, Cindy Maude, at the time of her death.  In addition to her daughter, Cindy, Florine is survived by three sons and their wives, Dennis (Linda Kroll) of Berkeley, California; Patrick (Carol) of East Lake, Ohio; and Condy (Connie) of Lake Quivira, Kansas; eleven grandchildren, and twenty great-grandchildren.  Florine was deeply loved and will be sorely missed by her family and by all who knew her, who take comfort in their loss from their knowledge of her full and happy life.

A Rosary will be recited at 9:00 am, followed by Mass of Christian Burial at 9:30 at the St. Lawrence Catholic Campus Center, 1631 Crescent Rd. on Monday Nov. 14 ^th.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the St. Lawrence Catholic Campus Center or LMH Health in support of Skilled Nursing Rehab. Please send c/o Warren McElwain Mortuary, 120 W. 13 ^th Street, Lawrence, KS 66044.