Emma Jean Scully West, 68, died suddenly on Thursday, Aug. 2, 2012 in Albuquerque, N.M.

Emma attended St. John’s Catholic School in Iola, then Mount Saint Scholastica in Atchison where she received her diploma.

She was married to Grant Gibbs Alexander from 1963 to 1977. He passed away in 2003.

Grant and Emma ran the Montgomery Ward Catalog Store on the Iola Square from the mid 70s to the mid 80s. Emma or “E.J.” then became a mainstay at Coast to Coast / Ace Hardware.

Emma married Dennis Gilbert West of Bronson in 1996. They moved to Caballo, N.M., in 2004 where they enjoyed time at “West’s Palm Beach” with all the wonderful wildlife and beautiful scenery. After Dennis passed away in 2009, some wondered aloud if she’d move back to Kansas, but she didn’t really consider it. She had made a true spiritual, familial home in the high desert. Emma was surrounded by her “family” at Our Lady of Perpetual Help Catholic Church where she was a leader of the Lady’s Council. Emma was also was recently made the chaplain of the American Legion Auxiliary. She also had a close-knit family of neighbors in her subdivision.

She leaves behind one brother, Joseph Scully and his wife, Judy, of the family farm in Colony; one son, Mike Alexander and his wife, Angie, Lenexa; and three stepdaughters, Linda Leake and her husband, Steve, Iola, Cherryl Olson of Chanute, and Mary Daniels and her husband, Brett, of Savonburg.