| Notes |
- The Kansas City Star (MO)
February 14, 2001
Mary Lois Ruppenthal Hibbard James died in her sleep at age 97 in her home at Lakeview Village, Lenexa, KS.
Working to help women around the world to become economically self-sufficient.
Mrs. James was born in Russell, KS, November 9, 1903, the daughter of Sarah Spalding and Jacob Christian Ruppenthal. She grew up in Russell, where she attended the Russell School System before going on to the University of Kansas where she graduated with a B.A. degree in 1925. While at KU she was elected to Phi Beta Kappa, joined the Gamma Phi Beta Sorority, and was elected to MortarBoard. She then graduated from Simmons College, Boston, with an M.S. degree in 1927, and eventually gained her Ed.D. (Doctorate in Education) from Columbia University Teachers College in 1947.
She married Harlan Davis Hibbard on December 20, 1930, in Buenos Aires, Argentina, where he was working for Goodyear Tire Co. She had two children, Hope Louise Hibbard, who died in 1974, and Harlan Davis Hibbard Jr., both of whom were born in Akron, OH. Her husband died on November 23, 1941, and she moved to New York City to attend Columbia University in 1944.
She married a fellow KU graduate and widower, Wallace McNeil James on August 26, 1947, and moved to West Caldwell, NJ, with his three children by his first wife.
She taught in the Russell, KS, and Akron, OH public schools, and was the School Psychologist in Caldwell. She practiced as a marriage and family counselor for 25 years and was a founding member of the New Jersey chapter of the American Association of Marriage and Family Counselors, serving as its secretary and later, president. She was also a member of the TriState Council of Family Relations. She is listed in Who's Who of American Women, was an honorary member of the New Jersey Parent Teacher Association, and was a member of the First Presbyterian Church of Caldwell, NJ, where she was a member of the Session. She is survived by her four children, Dorothy Jean Crawford, Topeka, KS, Alberta June Daw, Kansas City, MO, Donald MacIvor James, Incline Village, NV, and Harlan Davis Hibbard, Boulder, CO; 14 grandchildren; and 19 great-grandchildren also survive her. She was a resident of Lakeview Village retirement community from 1976 onwards, where she was selected as the honorary chairperson of the Lakeview Village Volunteers and was the first person to be elected to the Lakeview Village Volunteer Hall of Fame. For her, there were never enough hours in the day to accomplish the service to others, which was her lifelong goal. One of the crowning achievements of her life was writing the biography of her father's life, titled "A Man Before His Time," with a forward by Sen. Bob Dole. She died peacefully and gracefully, surrounded by her immediately family holding her hands.
|
1903 - 2001 (97 years)
[1] 
