Loretta Arnold, 72, of Fort Scott, passed peacefully from this life Tuesday evening October 13, 2020, at KU Medical Center. Loretta answered the call of her Savior to “come home, my child.”
Loretta was born October 6, 1948, to Richard Dale and Helen Marie (Moyer) Hall at Mercy Hospital in Fort Scott, Kansas. She grew up in the Bethel community west of Fort Scott. She was a lifetime member of Bethel Community Baptist Church and attended grade school in the one-room schoolhouse still standing at Bethel Church. She attended Fort Scott schools and was a 1966 FSHS graduate. She was a graduated alumni of Fort Scott Community College. Her thoughtful and dependable work history includes thirty-seven years within The Western Insurance Companies, a secretary with Tri-Valley Developmental Services, and then retiring from the Bourbon County Courthouse treasurer’s office.
Loretta knew most everyone in Fort Scott and never met a stranger. She shared her friendliness with anyone. She was proud of her little hometown Fort Scott, boasting upon it with others. She was an exceptional cook who could bake an apple pie to match her mother’s Purple Ribbon winning pies, an ever-entertaining host to family, friend, or stranger.
She loved family get-togethers, enjoying a friendly game of cards, or such. Every weekend for twenty-seven years, her “Whipper Snapper Card Crew” met around a table to play a laughing, hilarious, and joking card game called Phase 10 with her lifelong friends, “sisters” Belinda Richardson and Becky Jaynes, along with their families.
Survivors include her husband Dale, of the home, stepchildren Troy Arnold (Jennifer), Tami Shirley, and Trent Arnold (Julie), with numerous grandchildren, and her son-in-law John Galvis. Also surviving are her siblings Jerry Hall (Alice), Rhonda Deck (Mike), Rex Hall (Karen), Michelle Long, Herbert Hall, and Damon Hall (Jill), and many nieces and nephews. Loretta was preceded in death by her daughter Leasha Renee Galvis, her parents, a brother, Brett Alan Hall, son-in-law Larry Shirley, and her grandparents.
Rev. Ben Heffernan will conduct graveside services at 1:00 p.m. Monday, October 19, 2020, at Memory Gardens under the direction of the Konantz-Cheney Funeral Home. Memorial contributions may be made to Care to Share and left in care of the Konantz-Cheney Funeral Home, 15 W. Wall St., P.O. Box 309, Fort Scott, KS 66701. Condolences may be submitted to the online guestbook at konantz-cheney.com.
