Kathleen Fae Mcdougal... Age 85

Kathleen Fae Ellis McDougal, 85, Osawatomie, died Wed., July 14, 2021 at Vintage Park at Osawatomie.

She was born Dec. 8, 1935, on a farm 2 miles west of Beagle, Kan., in Mound Township, Miami County, on part of the original homestead settled in 1857 by her great-grandparents, David and Elizabeth Schoonover Lockhart. Her parents were Clark and Jessie Elizabeth Lockhart Ellis. She grew up on the farm, attending Independence school about 1 ½ miles west and south of her home until graduating from the eighth grade. She then completed her high school education in Osawatomie High School, graduating in 1953.

On April 14, 1951, she and Robert Creed McDougal were married in Bentonville, Ark. They lived in Osawatomie for a short time while she continued her high school education. After he was drafted into the U.S. Army, she returned to live with her parents on the farm where she was born except for a short time when she followed her husband to Georgia and then to New Jersey.

Her husband returned to the states from Germany on the day she graduated from high school and they established a home in Beagle. Shortly after his return from service, his father died and they lived for a year with his mother on a farm southeast of Lane along U.S. Highway 169. The McDougals then purchased a home in Beagle and their four children were born while they lived there. In April 1963, they moved back to the farm where she was born. Both she and her husband took great pride in living where her great-grandparents had settled. Mr. McDougal preceded her in death on June 29, 2008. Mrs. McDougal lived on the homestead until Sept. 2019,, when she became a resident of Vintage Park at Osawatomie.

Shortly after graduating from high school, Mrs. McDougal went to work for the Osawatomie Graphic, a weekly newspaper. She continued to work there until her first child was born in March 1955 at which time she became a full-time homemaker and mother. On April 16, 1972, she returned to the newspaper, which was then owned by Webster and Gladys Ann Hawkins. During her years at the newspaper, she worked in many capacities until retiring to a part-time position in 1998. She resigned from the Graphic in January 2009.

Later that year, she began working for the Osawatomie Journal, which was started in August by co-publishers Jeff Gulley and Doug Carder, both of whom she had worked with at the Graphic. She had left this position by the time the newspaper stopped publication in 2012.

In was in August of 1976 that she began a column titled “Katie’s Korner.” She was still writing the column in January 2011 and was serving as family editor of the Osawatomie Journal, working part time. She had seen the evolution of newspaper work from type set by Linotypes and huge page ads molded out of hot metal to computer-generated pages sent to the printer by e-mail.

Mrs. McDougal was a longtime member of the Beagle United Methodist Church where she had served in a number of offices and taught Sunday school during the years when her children were small. She was also a charter member of the Mound Builders 4-H Club of the Beagle area.

In 2012 she became a member of the Marais des Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution in Paola. She had become very interested in the genealogy of her family. She resigned from the DAR in 2015. She continued to work on the history of her ancestors.

Her love for horses was well known and her first equine was a little red and white pony named Peggy, part Arabian and part Shetland. Mrs. McDougal belonged to many horse associations during her lifetime. She was a member of the Kansas City Regional Fox Trotting Horse Association and the Missouri Fox Trotting Horse Breed Association, headquartered in Ava, Mo., in 2008. She had served as an officer in the KCRFTHA for a number of years and was news editor of the group’s newsletter, “The Horse’s Mouth,” for several years. She served as treasurer of the group for some time. She was a former member of the American Quarter Horse Association, both at the state and national level; and the American Paint Horse Association, as well as many other horse groups.

No one could have told her that she would become such an absolute fool over her dogs, but during her late 60s and 70s, her lap dogs, Roy, Dory, Izzy and Bianca, brought her much unconditional love and happiness. She vowed she would never be without a dog as long as she could care for them. When Roy was very small, Mrs. McDougal took him with her to vote. One of the election officials was playing with him on the table when he decided to take a “potty” break on said table. His actions brought a lot of laughter from his admirers. A Blenheim King Charles Cavalier, Ginger, received her devotion daily for more than five years until she became a resident of Vintage Park. After that, Ginger paid visits to town with Mrs. McDougal’s daughter, Nina. Ginger’s favorite place was on the back of the sofa so she could watch the world go by and for her family to return home.

In addition to her husband, those preceding her in death included her son, Clark Allen McDougal, who died June 9, 1985; her five siblings, Vernon A. Ellis, Gene L. Ellis, Marion Keith Ellis, Dorothy Elizabeth Servais and Nina Rosalie Ellis, who died in infancy; sister-in-laws, Betty McDougal Stevens Beets, Mary McDougal, Dee McDougal, Erma Lee Ellis, Mary Ellis, and Kay Ellis; and brother-in-laws, Joyce Alonzo McDougal, Donald McDougal. Lewis McDougal, Elery Stevens, and Joseph “Doc” Beets. After her siblings died, she was proud to be accepted as a sister by her husband’s siblings and their families.

Survivors include two sons and their wives, David Charles and Samantha McDougal of Burlington, Kan., and Douglas Creed and Martha L. McDougal of Osawatomie; her daughter, Nina Fae McDougal, Osawatomie; a former daughter-in-law, Janet Jordan McDougal Blaufuss of Garnett; seven grandchildren, Lisa Ann McDougal Spiker, Lori Lee McDougal Marmon, Lynn Marie McDougal Fox, Riley Creed McDougal, Monica Kathleen McDougal, Alesha McDougal Root, and Taylor McDougal; four great-grandchildren, Dustin Spiker, Erica Spiker, Madison Root, and Kinsley Dawn Root; three step great-grandchildren, Kody Marmon, Blade Marmon, and Britney Marmon; one step great-grandchild, Rayleigh Marmon; one sister-in-law, Margo McDougal; and numerous nieces and nephews.

A memorial service will be held at a time yet to be determined. She requested that “Happy Trails” be played to end the service. It was a trademark of her columns. Burial will be at Spring Grove Friends Cemetery, rural Osawatomie.

Memorials may be made the Osawatomie Public Library or Bless-A-Horse of Camp Chippewa, a United Methodist church camp, Ottawa, Kan., in care of Eddy-Birchard Funeral Home, 203 Main St., Osawatomie.