Lynda Dawkins Obituary

Lynda Ellen Roetker Dawkins

August 8, 1940 - February 10, 2025

Buffalo, Oklahoma - Lynda Ellen Roetker was born August 8, 1940 in Buffalo, Oklahoma, and passed from this life February 10, 2025. She was the oldest child of Francis Leo Roetker and Audrey Harriet Reed. She was an active child enjoying friends, riding horses around the farm, and playing piano. In the fall of 1952, she was diagnosed with Bulbar Polio the first person in Harper County Oklahoma to contract the disease that became a national pandemic that year. She spent several weeks in critical condition including an iron lung at Crippled Children's Hospital in Oklahoma City before recovering fully. She attended elementary and junior high in the Buffalo School System and high school at St. Mary of the Plains Boarding School in Dodge City, Kansas, completing high school in three years. Following high school, Lynda joined the Sisters of St. Joseph at their convent in Wichita, Kansas becoming Sister Mary Michaeleen. She earned a teaching degree in education and taught in Catholic School Systems in Kansas, California, and Texas. She enjoyed teaching English, but her specialty was music education. Lynda left the convent in 1971 and took a teaching job in Wellington, KS where she met and married John Dawkins, a high school teacher and football coach. They moved to Wichita, KS where John taught and coached in USD 259 at Wichita Southeast High School. Lynda taught for 27 years at Wichita Collegiate School until her retirement in 2002. She was a 6th grade teacher, team leader, and Head of Middle School. She was beloved by decades of students, teachers, and parents. In 2002 she was awarded the school's highest honor, the Probe te Dignum Award. In 2008 Lynda was inducted into the WCS Circle of Gold for outstanding contributions to the school over its history. In 2014, Lynda, now a widow, moved to Plaquemine, Louisiana to be near her brother and sister-in-law and to escape the cold and snow of Kansas winters and to enjoy retirement. It also left her within an easier driving distance of Russ and the grand kids who had settled in Houston. Lynda is survived by her son, Russ Dawkins; grandson, Matthew Dawkins; granddaughter, Ava Dawkins all of Houston; brother, Joe Roetker and wife Susan of Plaquemine; friend and care-giver, Deanna Barry of Plaquemine; nieces, Anna Roetker of Houston, Kristan Roetker and friend Jeremiah Mueller of New Braunfels, Texas; and family friends, Ted and Carol Thomas of Burlington, WA. Final arrangements are pending. Burial of ashes will be a private family event at Grace Memorial Park at a later date. Please share memories at www.wilbertservices.com