Marie Eileen Elsey

Marie Eileen Elsey, 80, of Olathe, Kansas, passed away on Thursday, June 17, 2021. She was born on September 6, 1940 in Spring Hill, Kansas to Clarence and Lorraine (DeVault) Bendure.

Marie graduated from Wyandotte High School and then later in life she received her Bachelor's degree from UMKC. She met the love of her life, Ron Elsey, while working at the soda fountain at Katz Drug Store. Ron was in the Air Force and they were soon married and stationed at several locations across the states. When he left the service they eventually relocated back to the Kansas City area. Marie and Ron both stayed very close with his family in Charleston, South Carolina as well.

Marie worked at various banks in the KC area including Sun Savings, Valley View, and Guaranty. She was a loan processing manager and loved her work. However, the highlight of her life was her family.

As the mother of four, she was always the PTO mom, the room mother, the Campfire leader, the Cub Scout, and Boy Scout leader, if it needed to be done Marie was there. She raised her family attending Brenner Heights Baptist Church and then later Victory Hills Baptist Church. Marie loved arts and crafts and was quite talented and creative in all areas. She was an avid seamstress and made many Easter outfits for her children to coordinate as well as very intricately detailed Barbie clothes to keep the girls busy while on vacations. She was the family travel agent and would put together a yearly trip on a shoestring budget so that we could see extended family, experience God's beautiful world, and make lasting memories. She took her family three different times to the Boundary Waters Canoe Area, outfitting them with tents, packs, and dehydrated foods where they would camp and canoe for days on their own with no one else in sight. She loved the State and National Parks and they visited many of them together as a family. They visited amusement parks almost every year. Although not her favorite, she wanted the kids to enjoy them together. Marie loved shopping and picking out the perfect presents for her children and grandchildren. She enjoyed both finding a bargain or something she could recreate on her own. She enjoyed going to Arkansas craft shows each fall with the girls in the family and sharing in the creativity and the bargains they found. Marie also enjoyed flowers and gardening. She had beautiful iris, lilies, roses and peonies. Her yard including her fish pond and flowers was another form of her art and creativity.
She and Ron remained in the KCK area raising their children who attend Washington and Sumner Academy high schools. Education was important to Marie and she as well as her children all obtained college degrees. Nine of her twelve grandchildren have also graduated from college, one is currently at K-State and the last two haven't yet finished high school. She was very proud of all of their accomplishments.

Ron passed in 1993 and Marie relocated to the Overland Park area to be closer to family. This would mark the most difficult time in her life as theirs was one of those relationships that just can't be replaced. She continued to work for some time and gave of herself to many service organizations, knitting stocking caps and making hats for cancer patients, collecting clothes for the needy, making storage accessories for walkers, etc. She always was willing to help lend a hand. After retiring, she volunteered for quite some time at the Johnson County Multi-Service Center in Gardner and talked fondly of the relationships she made while there. She became involved with the KCK Pilot International club and eventually served as president. Marie made many friends there and enjoyed the service opportunities. One of Marie's final organizational efforts was in starting a Parkinson's support group with the aid of Chaplain Diane Gunsolley at Aberdeen Village where she resided.

She loved her children and her grandchildren and getting together as a family. She could also machine embroider and she embroidered each of the grandchildren sets of towels with their names to take with them to college. She knew she might not be able to be at the graduation for her youngest grands so one of her last craft projects would be to make sure she got their towels done for them as well. She was blessed with twelve grandchildren, seven great-grandchildren and one more on the way! It is always a rowdy noisy occasion when they get together and she will be watching fondly as we join together to honor her.

Marie is survived by:
Her son, David Elsey, his wife Tami, and their children Ryan Elsey, his wife Stacey, and their son Maxwell, Dylan Elsey, his wife Rachael, and their daughter Ella, Shawna Cole and her husband Andy.

Her daughter Gayle Staudenmaier, her husband Michael, their children Andrew, and his wife Micaela, and their daughter Luz, Abigayle Hendricks, her husband Brady, their sons Forrest and Hudson, and Daniel Staudenmaier and his fiancé Nicole Becker.

Her daughter Beth Robinett, her husband Mark, their children Cassandra Geis, her husband Logan, and their children Kayden and Karson, Ronald Robinett, his wife Libby, Kelsey Robinett and her fiancé Caleb Reed and Halley Robinett

Her son Scott Elsey, and wife Michele, and their sons Jackson and Samuel.

Her brother Carl Bendure and his wife Pat and her sister-in-law Patti Bendure.

She is preceded in death by her husband Ronald Elsey, her parents Clarence and Lorraine Bendure, and her brother Ralph Bendure.

A visitation will be held from 12:00pm to 12:50pm on Thursday, June 24, 2021 at Penwell Gabel's Olathe Chapel for immediate family only, followed by a graveside service for friends and family at 1:00pm on Thursday, at Oak Lawn Memorial Gardens in Olathe, Kansas.

The family requests that contributions in Marie's memory be made to:
The Parkinson's foundation
or Heart of America Boy Scouts



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