Murla D. Adwell

Murla Dean Adwell, 89, of Lindsborg, KS, peacefully passed away on Monday, September 30, 2024, at Bethany Home in Lindsborg.

Murla was born on August 24, 1935, in Moundridge, KS, the daughter of William T. and Elizabeth (Siebrandt) Becker. She had three sisters and four brothers. Her sisters were all older than she was, so she grew up with her brothers. She loved playing basketball with her brothers. Since there wasn’t a girls’ basketball team in high school, she played on the boys’ team. (This is what she had told the family many times over the years.)

She loved drawing pictures. She even designed and drew the Moundridge Wildcat mascot on the high school gym floor and painted it. She did the drawings for some of the high school yearbooks also.

She was united in marriage on September 8, 1956, to Leroy A. Adwell at the Presbyterian Chapel in McPherson, KS. To their union were born four children: Patty, Roger, Laura, and Douglas.

After she was married and started having children, her love of drawing continued. Some of the things she did was to design and draw horse heads for a rocking horse and a barrel horse that Leroy built. At Christmas time, she would draw and paint the Nativity scene on the front windows of the house. Besides being a housewife, she also helped with all the remodeling and building of homes they did over the years.

When they lived on the farm, she liked running the tractor to mow with the bush hog mower and making sure everything was trimmed. Her family doesn’t remember there ever being any weeds in the yard. She also loved working in her flower gardens and running concrete sidewalks.

Murla had a love of having a variety of animals on the farm; there were different kinds of ducks, Chinese geese, chickens, guineas, peacocks, a turkey, rabbits, miniature goats, burro, mule, and horses. After they sold the farm and moved to Lindsborg, they bought a motorhome and did a lot of traveling. They later started to make crafts to sell at craft shows. Murla was a very gifted painter, and the end results showed this.

Once the grandchildren started coming along, she liked nothing better than to watch them play and use their imaginations. When they got old enough, she introduced them to playing board games. All of the grandchildren, to this day, still like to play board games. She even started to introduce board games to her great-grandchildren.

Murla was preceded in death by her husband Leroy; her parents; her sisters, Sadie Moulds and Malinda Boese; and brothers, Floyd and Bert Becker.

Murla is survived by: her children, Patty Turnquist (Bryce) of Lindsborg, KS, Roger Adwell (Melody) of Chanute, KS, Laura Johannsen (Richard) of Lindsborg, KS, and Douglas Adwell (Linda) of Valley Center, KS; a sister, Violet Richert of Moundridge, KS; two brothers, Edgar Becker of Longmont, CO and James Becker of Berthoud, CO; 11 grandchildren and 15 great-grandchildren plus another expected in Oct.; and several nieces and nephews.

A service will be held at a later date. The final resting place will be in Elmwood Cemetery, Lindsborg.

Memorial donations can be made to Gentiva Hospice of McPherson in care of Stockham Family Funeral Home, 205 North Chestnut, McPherson, KS 67460.