Elizabeth Ailor Obituary

Elizabeth Ann Schaechtele Ailor was born July 21, 1938, in Eureka, Kansas, to Robert Florenz and Alice Evelyn Neighbor Schaechtele. She died peacefully at the age of 79 on February 19, 2018, in Lawrence, Kansas, after suffering a stroke. A memorial service will be held at the First United Methodist Church in Downtown Lawrence, KS on March 9, 2018 at 11:00 a.m.

In early childhood, she lived for a time in El Dorado, Kansas, before the family moved back to Eureka in 1947. She graduated from Eureka High School in 1956, having participated in band, choir, theatre, and cheer squad. She was a beautiful swimmer, but then, there were no sports for girls, so she became a Red Cross Certified Life Guard and taught swimming even through college. She attended Emporia State Teachers' College for two years, joining Sigma Sigma Sigma social sorority; she then, transferred to the University of Kansas School of Nursing, from which she graduated in 1960 with a BSN and became an RN. While there she was active in "Caduceus Capers." She married Richard (Dick) William Ailor in Eureka, Kansas, on December 29, 1957, and had two daughters: Lisa Ann in 1963 and Sarah Elizabeth in 1967.

After college graduation, she was a school nurse at Westwood View Elementary in Johnson County. After moving to Lawrence, Kansas, she was a homemaker and mother for a few years before returning to her career, becoming a public health nurse at the Lawrence Douglas County Health Department, where she worked for 26 years. While there she was communicable disease charge nurse which covered everything from giving hundreds of flu shots and vaccinations to doing well-child screenings, in addition to tracking diseases and their spread. It was Ann, who was a point person in Lawrence and Douglas County when the HIV/Aids epidemic hit. She read, studied, and listened to everything from the CDC about this new health threat and when many panicked, she stayed calm. She was a founding board member of the Douglas County Aids Project. She counseled many as she tested for HIV, and always reported results in a one-on-one setting, with compassion and non-judgment. It was an emotional task since she cared deeply for those patients. She spoke regularly to school classes about sex education and disease and pregnancy prevention, always with candor, honesty, accessibility, and humor. She knew that teaching strictly abstinence was folly and irresponsible. Much to the chagrin of her daughters, she was a regular in some of the classrooms at Lawrence High School. The Lawrence Alternative High School awarded her their citizen volunteer award. She taught many of the Department's Family Based Sexuality Classes. She was the consultant on a series of health education films made by Centron Films in the early 1980s. In 1992, she received the Nursing, the Heart of Health Care Award from the K. U. School of Nursing.

For many years, she and Dick, owned Morgan horses, so that their girls could show them. They belonged to the Wheat State Morgan Horse Association. This offered them friendships with people from all over the Central Plains. Ann created counted cross-stitch works of art for many, including birth samplers for babies and intricate Santas for her mother.

Ann is survived by her husband of 60 years, Dick; her daughters Lisa Schmitt and Sarah Walters and her husband, Gary and sons, Sam and Ben; her sister Mary Lake and her children Lei Anh Russell and her family and Andrew Phillips and his family; her brother-in-law, Ron Ailor and his wife, Mary, and Ron's sons, Jason and Blake and their families. She was preceded in death by her parents; Lisa's daughter, Whitney Van Dyke in 2014; and her father and mother-in-law, Burton and Mabel Ailor. She also leaves a legacy of good work, caring, and doing the right thing in a difficult time in our nation's health. She was a perfectionist in her work and appearance, but could laugh at herself and see the humor in the world around her. This only touches the surface of Ann and what she meant to so many. She is loved and missed.

Donations may be made in Ann's honor to the Lawrence Humane Society http://lawrencehumane.org/donate/

or

The Ryan White Program at Heartland Community Health Center

https://donate.heartlandhealth.org/checkout/donation?eid=53412