Geneva Frances Blake, age 88, a resident of rural Redfield, died Tuesday, May 15, 2012, at the Mercy Health Center of Fort Scott. She was born October 3, 1923, in St. Clair County, Missouri, the daughter of Charles Edward Hall and Virgie Thompson Hall. She first married Joseph Marvin Taylor. They were divorced. She later married Kenneth W. Blake on November 5, 1951, at Bentonville, Arkansas. He preceded her in death on May 15, 1993. Geneva had worked for both Key Work Clothes and the Western Insurance Company. She was a member of the Bethel Community Church. She had served for many years with the Mercy Health Center Auxiliary and also volunteered her time for the Old Fort Genealogical Society. She enjoyed quilting.

Survivors include two sons, Marvin Taylor, Sr. and wife, Dorothy and Ken Blake, Jr., and wife, RoAnn, all of Fort Scott; three daughters, Joyce Ziegler and husband, Bill, and Leanna Taylor, all of Fort Scott, and Nancy Holt and husband, Kenny, of Uniontown. Also surviving is a daughter-in-law, Lucy Taylor, Wheatland, Missouri; a brother James Hall, of Arizona, and a sister, Edna Mae Mealman, Wichita, Kansas; eleven grandchildren and twenty great-grandchildren. In addition to her husband, she was preceded in death by a son, Richard Taylor, a grandson, Jeff Taylor, five brothers, Virgil, Edward, Lewis, Emery, and Harvey Hall and a sister, Virginia McHenry.

Pastor Greg Stine will conduct funeral services at 10:30 A.M. Friday, May 18, 2012, at the Cheney Witt Memorial Chapel. Burial will follow in the Marmaton Cemetery. The family will receive friends from 6 to 8 P.M. Thursday, at the Cheney Witt Chapel. Memorials are suggested to the Mercy Hospital Auxiliary or the Bethel Community Church and may be left in care of the Cheney Witt Chapel, 201 S. Main, P.O. Box 347, Ft. Scott, Kansas 66701. Words of remembrance may be submitted to the online guestbook at cheneywitt.com.