Maxine B. Kirkpatrick

Maxine B. Kirkpatrick, 93, loving and beloved mother and grandmother, quietly passed from this life on Sunday morning, November 27, 2016 in Wichita. A native of this city, Maxine was born at her family home at 436 N. Erie on April 21, 1923 and raised there throughout her childhood. She was the daughter and youngest child of Chester H. Calkins Jr. and Lillie B. Sherwood, attended Lowell and Roosevelt schools before graduating from Wichita East High School in 1941. Later that year, on November 7, 1941, she married Frank R. Smith in Wichita, a union that produced her two children. She worked for many years here as an oil drilling company secretary. On June 10, 1967, Maxine married R. Merle Kirkpatrick in Wichita, and moved to Muskogee, Oklahoma until 1995 when she returned to Wichita following his death on September 13, 1980. She was an accomplished cook and seamstress, an avid gardener and award winning rose grower, a caregiver to many small children, a family historian and a member of the General Society of Mayflower Descendants. She lived her final years as a resident of Regent Park facilities in Wichita. Maxine will long be remembered as a sweet, kind and caring soul, a friend to many, with an unwavering devotion to her family whom she loved and placed above all else. Her presence in the lives of those she touched will be sorely missed. She is survived by her children, Judy K. Bruce of Gore, Oklahoma, and Philip R. (Susan) Smith of Wichita; sister, Carol B. Powell of Cedar Rapids, Iowa; seven grandchildren, sixteen great-grandchildren and one great-great grandchild. Visitation with the family will be at Downing & Lahey East Mortuary on Thursday, December 1, from 6-8 PM. Service to be held on Friday, December 2 at 1:00 PM, also at the mortuary. Interment at Wichita Park Cemetery to follow.