Mary Louise Miller Hurlbut

Memorial services for Mary Louise Miller Hurlbut, 80, Tonganoxie, will be held at 11 am Monday May 7th, 2007 at Trinity Episcopal Church in Lawrence, Kansas. A private inurnment will be held at a later date. Mrs. Hurlbut died Tuesday, May 1st in Kansas City, Missouri. Biddy, as she was known to family and friends, was born December 30, 1926, in Lawrence, Kansas, the daughter of Charles E. Miller and Corinne Wootten Miller. She graduated from Barstow School in Kansas City, Stephens College, in Columbia, Missouri, and Finch College in New York. She was a long time member of Trinity Episcopal Church, where she served on the vestry. Among other things, Biddy organized the drive to raise funds for the Kansas bell for the Washington National Cathedral in Washington, DC. Biddy served on several boards, including Turner House, an African American community center in Kansas City, Kansas. She was president of Planned Parenthood in Kansas City, and served on the national board of NARAL, an organization devoted to maintaining a woman's right to choose. She was also a founding member of two organizations promoting women's political equality, the Greater Kansas City Women's Political Caucus Endowment and Education Fund and the Missouri Women's Leadership Coalition. In addition to her years of volunteer service, in 1977, Biddy and her daughter Annie founded the Peruvian Connection, a catalogue company dedicated to luxury fiber designs based on ethnographic textiles. Biddy was preceded in death in December by her husband of 60 years, Gordon B. Hurlbut, whom she married on October 4th, 1947 in Tonganoxie, KS. Survivors include three daughters, Corinne Hurlbut, Tonganoxie, Kansas, Hether Smith and her husband Donald, Philadelphia, PA, Annie Zander and her husband Rick, Kansas City, MO, a sister, Helen Sencenbaugh, Scottsdale, AZ, and three granddaughters, Jane and Balie Zander and Sarah Smith. There will be a reception in Tonganoxie following the service. In lieu of flowers, the family suggests memorial contributions to Trinity Episcopal Church or the Greater KC Women's Political Caucus Endowment and Education Fund. Contributions can be sent in care of Peruvian Connection Canaan Farm Tonganoxie, KS 66086.