Celia Cleta Norton was born on the homestead of her Grandparents-Reverend John Haynes and Louisa Merrick-Haseltine located five miles south of Cawker City, Carr Creek Township in Mitchell County, Kansas at the home of her parents Ralph Leslie and Louise Kathryn Haseltine-Norton on 11 May 1916 as their fourth child.
Her parents were descendants of Pioneer Parents who came to settle this new state of Kansas in 1871 settling about five miles from each other in the same township.
Celia began her first learning in the Haseltine School organized by her Grandfather John Haynes Haseltine at the age of five years for her elementary education. She had to walk the one-half mile to the south west acre of his homestead where the school had been located. After graduating from these eight grades, she drove a Model-T touring car to the Cawker City High School for the following four years. Graduating in May 1933 at the age of 16 years with a Normal Training Teachers Certificate she was a Country School Teacher for the next three years. She attended Summer School one summer in Manhattan, Kansas. Only a Country School Teacher could understand the rigors of walking to a cold school building in the winter to build a fire to warm the building for students walking up to two and one-half miles to get to school, too.
On 12 December 1936, Celia became the bride of Glen W. Kincheloe, a farmer from the Ionia Jewell County community. On the farm her learning and education was changed to many new occupations she had never experienced at school; as cooking, baking, housekeeping, milking cows, tending chickens and turkeys, in addition to getting water from a well pump for use in the house and for every animal. There wasn’t any electricity on this farm for nine long years – until 1945.
Celia and Glen’s learning and education changed on 25 June 1939 when they became parents of a son, Gail Leon and again on 07 November 1944 when their daughter Marjorie Louise was born. Celia learned that teaching and education didn’t stop when she closed the last schoolhouse door. A different education comes with children – their school, music lessons by a neighbor, Sunday School, Public School activities on and on through the following years.
Celia’s parents and Grandparents were longtime members of the Methodist Church. She transferred her membership to the United Methodist Church in Ionia and became a Sunday School teacher for many ensuing years where her children were also baptized. She was also honored to be chosen as supervisor of the Ionia U.M. Women Quilting group of Ladies until the death of her husband in 1991.
Celia’s learning, teaching and serving abilities were expanded to different fields when she felt she was one of the chosen to search and record her family history in the 19760’s after her children had homes and families of their own. After joining the North Central Kansas Genealogical Society in 1977 in Cawker City, Kansas, she was amazed to discover she was a descendant of King Alfred The Great, King Charlemagne and of William the Conqueror all in England. Her tenth great grandfather, Nicholas Norton who came from
Kent County England to Weymouth, Massachusetts in 1639, married there, then went to Martha’s Vineyard with the first white settlers to settle among many Indian inhabitants to raise their family. By answering an inquiry from a Mayflower Pilgrim Descendant in Quincy, Illinois, Celia was informed that she, too, was a descendant of many Pilgrims who sailed from England to live in Holland, then continue their journey on the Mayflower Ship to settle Plymouth Massachusetts in November 1620. Celia was the Society Librarian at NCKGS from 1984 to 2002 where she assisted many folks from over the United States trace their ancestors by correspondence and personal visits to the Society. Highlights of Celia’s research was opportunities to visit graves of many ancestors in six different states.
Celia was accepted as a member of the Kansas Mayflower Pilgrim’s Society in Topeka, Kansas and of the General Mayflower Society in 1984. She was instrumental in helping her children, grandchildren, a sister and several other relatives to receive memberships in these Societies, also.
Celia was preceded in death by her brother Harold at the age of 16 years in April 1924; by her Father in October 1948; her Mother in January 1961; a precious granddaughter Anita Louise Slaughter on 21 September 1972; her companion Glen Kincheloe on 24 August 1991; her son Gail Leon on 11 April 2003; her sister’s Freda Beam in March 2005; Lillian Dooley in August 2011 and Thelma Rice in March 2012.
After the death of her son in 2003, she moved from her home in Cawker City to live with her daughter Marjorie and husband, Robert Slaughter, in Laramie, Wyoming. Here she has spent time with piecing and quilting quilts, doing family history, corresponding with Kansas relatives or calling them by telephone. Celia has lived a rewarding life by learning, teaching and serving her family members and many others during the years she was privileged to live. She has treasured family members and many acquaintances. She has also enjoyed traveling with Marjorie and Robert since 2008, visiting relatives and different parts of the US.
Celia chose in 2018 to return to Mitchell County where she was born and to reside at Hilltop Lodge where she was given care. Rita Countryman Thompson was a genuine caretaker in her last year where Celia enjoyed her companionship. She continued to keep in touch with relatives and friends on her Grandpad. She would make sure if someone was dealing with an illness, that she kept in touch with them often, letting them know that she cared about how they were feeling.
She asked many times about why God was keeping her on this earth and she found that he evidently had a plan for her and it wasn’t her time to go. When that time came, she was ready, passing on 24 March, knowing that he loved her and that she was ready to join those on the other side.
Celia is survived by her daughter Marjorie and husband Robert Slaughter and their children: Vashti Kathryn and husband Clay Eppler, Prineville, OR; Brian Slaughter and wife Rebecca, Laramie, WY; Robynne Lynne and husband Reo Buckingham, Casper, WY; Crystal Elaine and husband Frank De Raffele, Jr., Poughkeepsie, NY; Step Granddaughter, Felicia Montoya Willet. Great Grandchildren, Joshua, Zachary, Anastasia, Rex, Seth, Lydia, Jacqueline and Candace; Great-Great Grandchidren, Haley, Natalie, Great-Great Step-Grandchildren, Makinsey, Lane, Parker and Forestt; in addition to nieces and nephews and their families.
Funeral services will be at 2 PM Friday, March 29 at the Ionia United Methodist Church. Visitation will be from 4-7 PM Thursday at the Roberts Family Funeral Home. Memorials may be given to the Donor’s Choice.