OBITUARY: LoAnna Mae Basore

LoAnna Mae Basore was born March 6, 1937, on a farm 1 mile east and 3 miles south of Bentley, Sedgwick, Kansas, the daughter of Earl Thomas “E.T.” Basore and his wife, Neva Mary Crawford. LoAnna died Dec. 22, 2020, at West Meade Place, a nursing and rehabilitation center in Nashville, Tennessee, at age 83.

LoAnna was a 1955 graduate of Bentley High School, where she was active in music programs, and served as editor of the Bentley Bluejay yearbook during her senior year. She also was involved in Pleasant Valley Evangelical United Brethren Church, rural Bentley.

In July 1957, LoAnna and her parents moved in to the city limits of Bentley. LoAnna attended Friends University in Wichita, where she majored in Bible and psychology, graduating with a bachelor’s of arts degree in 1966 and a bachelor’s of theology in 1967, both with honors. She was active in the Christian fellowship on campus, served as president of the women’s residence hall, and was a member of the Friends University student council. In addition, she was an assistant to professors in the psychology-sociology department and was the Bible department’s honor assistant.

LoAnna was active in the Bentley High School Alumni Association, serving as secretary and picture committee chair. She was the association’s president for 1978-79. She sang with the Wichita Choral Society from 1964 to 1980, and her favorite performances included Handel’s Messiah.

In 1980, LoAnna moved to Nashville, Tennessee, to study at Vanderbilt University Divinity School. She completed a master’s of divinity in August 1986, with an emphasis in pastoral counseling and theology. While earning her degree, field placements included Vanderbilt Counseling Center’s outreach program, serving as student chaplain at St. Mary’s Medical Center in Knoxville, Tennessee, and working as a graduate assistant in the Center for Clinical and Research Ethics of the Vanderbilt University Medical Center School of Medicine.

LoAnna was a genealogy and family history buff, writing multiple biographies for the 1987 Bentley Centennial History Book. She also enjoyed music, ballroom and jazz dancing, reading, traveling and caring for feral cats. She was known for the bright red felt hat she usually wore. LoAnna was employed at Opryland in Nashville and received mental health services because of her seasonal work there. She also experienced homelessness, living for a time with her cats C.C. and Little Kitty in her yellow Pacer.

She was preceded in death by her parents; brother, Donald Ray Basore; nephew, Steve Alan Basore, formerly of Halstead, and great-nephew, Jamison Daniel Scott Bonham.

Survivors include her nieces, Susan Basore Garofalo of South Carolina, Sherry Basore Harder of Newton; great-nephew, Mark Boyer; great-nieces, Doni Perry, Alexis Frost, and cousins, Carolyn Williams, Richard Basore.

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