Rita Walder 1943-2024

Rita Ferne Walder, 81, Auburn, died Tuesday, April 30, 2024, at Midland Care Hospice House.

She was born April 13, 1943, in Fort Scott, the daughter of Carl and Rhoda Claborn Johnson. She attended Holton High School as a freshman and graduated from Mayetta High School in 1961.

Mrs. Walder worked at the Dairy Queen, Lindy’s and Schroth Grocery Stores and Agri Painting, all in Hiawatha. She retired from Kansas Electric Cooperatives in Topeka after 20 years of service. She and her husband lived in Hiawatha for 20 years before moving to Auburn in November 1988.

She and her husband played with multiple music groups, and she was part of the Elmont Opry band and the Kansas Prairie Pickers. She also was a Red Cross Gray Lady and a Boy Scout troop leader.

She married Clifton Walder on June 4, 1961, in Holton. He survives.

Other survivors include a son, Randy Walder and wife Jonna, Wheatland, Mo.; two daughters, Christie Bauerle, Auburn, and Rhonda Christie and husband Dave, Effingham; seven grandchildren, Jessica O’Dell and husband Skylar, Raymond Walder and wife Samantha, Jennifer Hack and husband Jesse, Amy Russell and husband Johnny, Gabrielle Schuetz and Craig and Brandan Bauerle; and 10 great-grandchildren, Conner, Clayton and Carsyn Teat, Katie, Will and Brooks Russell, Ely and Reece Walder and Rhayna-Lynn and Legacie Hack.

She was preceded in death by her parents; four siblings, Bertha Zelfer, Carlyn Kaiser, Mary Lou Miller and Bernice Schuette; a baby brother, William; a stepgrandson, Jacob Christie; and two great-grandchildren, Ty Walder and Amelia Hack.

Funeral services will be held at 2 p.m. Monday, May 6 at the Auburn Community Center. Visitation will be held one hour prior to the service. Mrs. Walder will lie in state from 1 p.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday, May 4 and from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sunday, May 5 at Mercer Funeral Home in Holton.

Memorial contributions may be made to Midland Care or Auburn Community Center, sent in care of Mercer Funeral Home, P.O. Box 270, Holton, KS 66436.