obituary from the Olathe Mirror
11 Jan 1900
Mrs. Mary E. Tullis
(Died, 2 miles west of Stanley January 5, of pneumonia, Mary E. Tullis, aged fifty-one years four months, and eleven days.)
Mary Emeline Abbott was born August 24, 1848, in Des Moines, Iowa. At the age of three years she moved with her parents to McDonald county, Illinois. Her mother died when she was five years of age and her father when she was fourteen, being killed in a storm, the family separated.
She was married to James H. Tullis March 16, 1888, near Rushville, Ill. They came to Johnson county, Kans., which has since been their home with the exception of six years spent in Cowley county. Twelve children were born to them, nine of whom are still living, all present during her last sickness.
About two years ago the husband and father was called away, and now the wife and mother has been taken. Mrs. Tullis was an exemplary woman, a trusty friend, a loving mother. It is always sad when the mother is taken from the home, especially so in this case as it breaks the family circle. The dear children now left orphans and some of them quite young.
Funeral services were conducted at the home by Rev. H. Cowen of Spring Hill, and remains laid to rest in Pleasant Valley cemetery, followed by a large concourse of sympathizing friends.
The floral tributes were beautiful, their snowy whiteness suggestive of the purity of the life just ended.
The bereaved children, sisters and brothers, have the heartfelt sympathy of the entire neighborhood.
