AANNIE BLEDSOE PUT FAMILY, FRIENDS FIRST

Annie L. Bledsoe was a natural businesswoman, with a quick mind for numbers, a knack for management and, most important, an ability to make every customer a friend, family members said.
At the same time, business never surpassed her family in importance, said her husband, Hap Bledsoe .

After an evening out with her husband Tuesday, Mrs. Bledsoe , who had emphysema, suffered what family members think was a respiratory attack at her home in Wichita. Paramedics from a nearby fire station were unable to revive her, and she died early Wednesday, Hap Bledsoe said.

''She probably has more friends than anybody I know and more devotion than anybody I know from her children and grandchildren," he said. "There was never a trip we took where she wasn't looking for a present for someone's birthday or anniversary."

Mrs. Bledsoe was 56. A service is planned for 1 p.m. Saturday at Resthaven Mortuary.

''It has been such a terrible shock," Hap Bledsoe said. "She knew so many people in so many walks of life. We have been getting telephone calls from people from all over the United States."

Mrs. Bledsoe , who was born and raised in Atchison, started working at the Diamond Inn, near Wichita Mid-Continent Airport, as a part-time bookkeeper, her husband said. By the 1970s Mrs. Bledsoe was the hotel's manager, and she became well- known to the business travelers who favored the Diamond Inn.

Mrs. Bledsoe , with five children of her own, was working at the Diamond Inn when she met Hap , a father of three. Between them, the Bledsoes had 11 grandchildren. After marrying Hap in 1984, Mrs. Bledsoe became vice president of Resthaven Mortuary & Cemetery, which he had founded in 1958. Together, the two added a mausoleum to Resthaven, and they were developing a property at 21st Street and Maize Road at the time of Mrs. Bledsoe 's death, Hap Bledsoe said. They had also bought the property where the Diamond Inn once stood and were building a Red Coach Inn on the site. ''She took care of all the details of managing both the household and our other developments," Hap Bledsoe said. "She was really the inspiration for me for the development of Resthaven."

Mrs. Bledsoe was a strong supporter of the Committee of 100, an organization, founded three years ago by Hap Bledsoe , that provides financial assistance, including college scholarships, to survivors of Sedgwick County public safety officers killed in the line of duty. Mrs. Bledsoe also was a longtime supporter of Starkey Inc., which serves mentally retarded people.

Memorials have been established with the American Lung Association and the Make-A-Wish Foundation.

In addition to her husband, Mrs. Bledsoe is survived by a son, Jimmy Schultz, daughters, Donna Guinn, Vicki Braun, Rae Ann Angelo and Patti Tasker, all of Wichita; stepsons, Greg of Wichita and Tom of Phoenix; stepdaughter, Mary Bollinger of Portland, Ore.; brothers, Howard Fitzpatrick of Chesapeake, Va., Walter Fitzpatrick and Gary Fitzpatrick, both of Winchester, Victor Fitzpatrick of Atchison and David Fitzpatrick of Fort Worth; sisters, Becky Fitzpatrick of Atchison, Sharon Fitzpatrick of Lawrence and Linda Beach of Georgetown, Ky.; and 11 grandchildren.

Wichita Eagle, The (KS) - Friday, August 19, 1994
Author: Robert Short, The Wichita Eagle

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nnie and Hap were owners of Resthaven Garden of Memory.