Colleen Blackmore Slabaugh
Collene Slabaugh, age 66, of Strong City, died Thursday, January 2, 2014, at the Golden Living Center of Chase County in Cottonwood Falls, KS, after a valiant battle with cancer. The daughter of William Mason and Myrtle Lorene Potter Blackmore, Helen Collene was born January 17, 1947, in Strong City, KS. She attended grade school at Saffordville Grade School and graduated from Strong City High School in 1965. She and G. Roy Slabaugh were married July 1, 1967, at the Strong City United Methodist Church in Strong City. He preceded her in death March 31, 1988. After Roy’s death, she and Ron Lake were companions until his death June 3, 2013.
She worked at Clark Farm & Home, Chase County Extension Office, Citizen’s National Bank in Emporia, and Strong City State Bank as a clerk and teller. In April of 1979, she and Roy bought the liquor store in Strong City and she owned and operated Slabaugh Liquor Store until her retirement in June of 2010.
She was a member of Strong City United Methodist Church, helped raise the funds for the organ, and played the piano and organ for church and funerals. She was an avid supporter of the Flint Hills Rodeo Association, serving the remainder of Roy’s Vice-President term, as past Secretary/Treasurer, painting rodeo signs, and working during the year to promote the rodeo. She was instrumental in bringing the Budweiser Clydesdales to Chase County for the rodeo parade two years. She was the Grand Marshal for the Flint Hills Rodeo Parade in 2012. She served as a Strong City Commissioner and was one of the founders of the Uptown Theater Preservation Alliance where she spent hours helping organize the “Raise the Roof” project to fund the restoration of the theater. She was active in the American Cancer Society and was a team captain for a Relay for Life team. She was a member, and past president, of the Strong City High School Alumni Association and a past member of the Russell Blackburn VFW auxiliary.
She had many talents and hobbies including sewing, quilting, knitting, dancing, and painting and sketching. She enjoyed fishing, hunting, cutting wood, playing cards, working cattle, camping, golfing, working in the yard and driving the country roads, with Ron, to visit friends and enjoy the beauty of the Flint Hills.
She is survived by her sister, Lynette Blackmore, of Strong City; and other family and friends. She was preceded in death by her parents and her two grandmothers: Estella Potter and Mame Golden Blackmore.
A celebration of life service will be held Wednesday at 1:00 P.M. at the Brown-Bennett-Alexander Funeral Home with The Rev. Pat Ireland officiating. The family will meet friends Tuesday from 6:00 until 7:30 P.M. at the funeral home. Friends may come by to sign the book Monday from noon until 6:00, Tuesday from 10:00 until 7:30, and Wednesday from 10:00 until service time. The casket will be closed. Memorial contributions to the Flint Hills Rodeo Association and to the Chronic Illness Assistance Fund may be sent in care of the funeral home, 201 Cherry, Cottonwood Falls, KS 66845. Condolence messages may be left at www.brown-bennett-alexander.com.
