Samantha Lyn Branson.... Age 51

April 16, 1969 — April 26, 2020

Instate 1-5 pm Monday May 4th, 2020 at the Eddy-Birchard Funeral Home

Private Family Mass Tuesday at St. Philp Neri Catholic Church of Osawatomie

Burial at Osawatomie Cemetery

Samantha Branson Memorial Fund
In lieu of flowers, the Branson family has asked that family and friends send a donation to St. James. Those donations will be collected in a memorial scholarship fund in Mrs. Branson’s honor. Click the link below if you’d like to donate.

Memorial Fund link

___________________________________________________________________

Samantha Lyn (Farr) Branson, 51, of Osawatomie, Kan., died Sunday, April 26, after a two-year battle with pancreatic cancer.

She was an educator, a journalist, an editor, and, first and foremost, a mother, wife, sister and daughter. Most recently she taught English and Literature at St. James Academy, a Catholic high school in Lenexa, Kan.

Samantha was born on April 16, 1969 in Gothenburg, Neb., to Clarence (C.T.) and Dennice Farr. She grew up on a farm in Weskan, Kan., in the shadow of Mount Sunflower and just a few miles from Colorado. She graduated Weskan High School in 1987 and earned a music scholarship to attend Barton County Community College in Great Bend, Kan.

Samantha’s interest in photography and the English language helped her choose Journalism as her major at Kansas State University. She was twice named Editor-in-Chief of the student newspaper, The Kansas State Collegian. She also met her husband, Greg, working on the Collegian, and they married on the hottest day of the year in August 1992 in Goodland, Kan.

While working at the Collegian, Samantha found her calling as a copy editor — helping writers make their stories better, more accurate and more readable. She would have found a 100 errors in this obituary (so far), but she would have taken the time to help the writer understand how to make it better, asking for neither credit nor thanks.

After working two years in Springfield, Mo., Samantha became a copy editor at the Minneapolis Star-Tribune, eventually becoming the Assistant State Editor. Greg and Samantha lived in Minnesota for 8 years and had their first child, Garrett, there in 2000.

While pregnant with their daughter, the family returned to Kansas in 2002 to live in Osawatomie. Claire was born in 2003 and Samantha began working at the Osawatomie Graphic as an editor and designer with her husband and father-in-law. She volunteered in her community. She helped reorganize the local Parents in Education organization, which allowed her to help run the school book fairs. Samantha loved books.

Samantha took a job as a copy editor at The Kansas City Star in 2008. The next year, her job, along with many others, were eliminated. She then followed her other life-long passion — teaching. She studied English Literature at the University of Kansas to pair with her journalism degree from Kansas State. She then earned her Master’s in Education from Pittsburg State University.

She taught in the Iola School District for three years before joining the staff at St. James Academy in 2015. She loved the students and staff at St. James, as well as the school’s commitment to the academic and spiritual growth of its students.

At St. James, Samantha started the tradition of asking students to write one thing that made them happy on a Post-It note, which was then stuck to the classroom wall. The students could write anything — love, a friend, peanut butter. By the end of the year, the wall would be filled with notes of happiness.

After she became sick, the students and teachers expanded the Wall of Happiness to the Day of Happiness to honor Samantha by carrying on the tradition.

Samantha loved to work, but she also loved to read, go to the movies and just sit around and relax with her family. She loved the natural beauty of prairie wildflowers, the cool nip in the air in autumn and the mountains of Colorado.

She is survived by her husband, Greg, and two children, Claire and Garrett. Also by her mother and father, Dennice and C.T. Farr; a sister, ReNae Farr-Mann, and a brother Thomas Farr, all of Weskan, Kan.

To order memorial trees or send flowers to the family in memory of Samantha Lyn Branson.... Age 51, please visit our flower store.

Samantha Lyn Branson.... Age 51

April 16, 1969 — April 26, 2020

Guestbook