Virginia "Ginny" Phelps

Virginia L. 'Ginny' Phelps, 62, of Manhattan, passed away Wednesday, February 8th, in Topeka. Virginia Marie Lankenau was born in Washington, DC, on April 6, 1949, a daughter of the late Anita Byrne and Richard N. Lankenau. As a youth she traveled the world with her parents in the Dipolomatic Corps. On Sept. 4, 1982 in Albuquerque, New Mexico, she married James Phelps. Ginny was a member of Seven Dolors Catholic Church in Manhattan; a volunteer for the Flint Hills Breadbasket, Douglass Center, Mercy Regional Hospital, where she delivered the mail and Mercy Health Fitness; a reader for Mass at Seven Dolors Catholic Church; and also a member of the Seven Dolors Catholic Women. She enlisted in the US Army after high school serving at Ft. Campbell, Kentucky as a hospital attendant and with MEDDAC as an occupational therapy specialist. Later she served in the U.S. Navy. Ginny attended Bellevue University in Bellevue, Nebraska and later took classes at KSU. Virginia is survived by her husband Jim of the home; a twin-sister, Judy Lankenau, of Dayton, OH; a brother, Richard Lankenau, and wife Cindy of Atlanta, Georgia; brother-in-law William Phelps, and wife Sayre, of Los Angeles, California; brother-in-law Tom Phelps, of San Diego, California; brother-in-law John Phelps, and wife Pat, of Omaha, Nebraska; sister-in-law Mary Anne Phelps and husband Tony, of Austin, Texas. She was preceeded in death by her parents and a sister, Rose Mary Lankenau. A vigil service will be at 7:00pm on Sunday, Feb. 12, 2012 at the Irvin-Parkview Funeral Home & Cremation. A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated at the Seven Dolors Catholic Church in Manhattan, at 10:00am on Monday, February 13th, with Father Joe Popelka officiating. Interment will follow at a later date. The family request donations to St. Jude's Childrens Hospital 262 Danny Thomas Place Memphis, TN 38105 , Seven Dolors Catholic Church 731 Pierre Manhattan, KS 66502 or the Flint Hills Breadbasket 905 Yuma Manhattan, KS 66502.