Katherine Vineyard

Katherine Seibert Vineyard, 100, died Dec. 2, 2017 at Aberdeen Village in Olathe, KS. She was born August 25, 1917 in Carbondale, IL and lived in Pittsburg, KS from 1963 to 1994 when she moved to the Kansas City area.  Katherine was a lifelong educator, serving on the faculties at Pittsburg State University in the School of Education and at Southern Illinois University. In her early career, she was an elementary school teacher in Kansas, Indiana, and Illinois. Later, she was the supervisor of education for Southeast Kansas Head Start. In retirement, she was the children’s librarian at Pittsburg Public Library. Katherine was very active in local civic affairs, especially in Altrusa, an international philanthropic organization for women in professions.  She served as president of the Pittsburg, KS Altrusa Club and Governor of Altrusa District Eight with 23 clubs in the states of Missouri, Oklahoma, Kansas, and Arkansas.  She traveled internationally to participate in Altrusa meetings.  She was involved all of her life in the Presbyterian Church, serving as elder, deacon, and led numerous women’s organizations.

Katherine was an artist and adventurer.  She enjoyed traveling extensively throughout the world. She loved participating in Elder Hostel.  She was a creative and talented individual, a true renaissance woman. She drew in pastels, created braided rugs and alligator pillows, and knit caps for babies in hospitals. With her husband, she designed and built three homes, included doing cabinetry and flooring. She made felt story boxes for her students and for her grandchildren. She encouraged artistic endeavors in her children and taught them drawing techniques. Family was the most important to her.  She adored her grandchildren and great grandchildren. She loved laughing at the creative gifts from her oldest grandsons and made many trips to Tennessee to see her younger grandchildren.

Katherine was married for 49 years to the late Ben S Vineyard, professor and chairman of the Professional Education Department at Pittsburg State University. Katherine assisted Ben on the writing of several high-school “World of Work” series textbooks which sold over 1,000,000 copies. They co-authored “Choosing the Right Career” a textbook for special needs students.

Katherine is survived by her daughter and son-in-law, Julie and Tom Larsen, Overland Park, KS; her son and daughter-in-law, Jim and Michelle Vineyard, Knoxville, TN; five grand-children: Chris Larsen, Jeff & Robin Larsen, Louis & Crystal Vineyard, Stephanie & Adam Lewandowski, and Carolyn & John Ritchie; seven great grandchildren: Nathan Larsen, Sarah Larsen, Anna Lewandowski, Cora Vineyard, Lillian Ritchie and two more angels on the way in 2018.

Burial ceremony will occur on Friday, Dec 8, 2017, 1:30 PM at Fort Scott, KS National Cemetery. Celebration of Life Service will be held on Saturday, Dec 9, 2017, 1:00 PM at the Knox Presbyterian Church, Overland Park, KS.

In lieu of flowers, please make contributions to Salvation Army, Knox Presbyterian Church Christmas Toy Store (knoxchurch.org), or Cross-Lines Community Outreach (cross-lines.org).