Arlene Rae Keener, 84, died November 3, 2023, at Leisure Homestead Association in Stafford, Kansas. She was born April 3, 1939, in Butte, Montana, the daughter of Thomas Ray and Rhea (Vance) Lewis. Arlene graduated in 1959 from Stanfield High School, Stanfield, Oregon. She then went on to graduate from Capital Business College in Salem, Oregon. After college she worked for Farm Bureau in Pendleton, Oregon for two years, before meeting Darrell Edward Keener. They were married on May 21, 1960, in Stanfield, Oregon and then moved to Kansas.
In Hoisington she worked at a bank for ten years but soon found her true calling was horses. Over the years she put on many horse clinics for all levels of riders. Many of those riders she coached have brought home national and world titles. Arlene and Darrell developed an extensive breeding program which encompassed the training and showing of multiple national and world champion horses and their bloodlines. She was there every step of the way from hauling her athletes across the country to sewing their outfits to compete in. Her leadership earned her multiple horse association judge cards, seats on various boards of directors, and eventually earning her Farm Bureau Woman Leader of the Year in 1973. She was able to achieve all of this while being a farm wife and raising four daughters that shared a love and compassion to compete and excel in equestrian competitions. Arlene and Darrell were lifetime members of the American Quarter horse Association, National Reining Horse Association, and Palomino Horse breeders of America. In 1990 Darrell and Arlene bought the bar in Olmitz and ran the Wagon Wheel from 1990-1996. She later worked as a cashier at Walmart.
She is survived by her four daughters; DaLena Keener of Hoisington, Dana Stoss (Jerry) of Hoisington, Deana Trail of Lawrence, and Dawn Richardson (Terry) of Lawrence; brothers, Ted Lewis of Woodland, Washington and Daryl Smith of Vancouver, Washington; six grandchildren, Rantz Rowland (Katie) of Hoisington, Luke Keener (Joslyn) of Olmitz, Nakota Rae Allen of Russell, and Ashton and Hayden Ensley of Lawrence, and Eden Ensley of Great Bend; and 3 great grandsons. She was preceded in death by her parents and her husband Darrell.
Visitation will be 9 a.m. to 8 p.m., Wednesday, with family to greet friends from 6-8 p.m., Wednesday at the funeral home.
Funeral service will be 2 p.m., Thursday, November 9, 2023, at Nicholson-Ricke Funeral Home with Pastor Don Fisher presiding. Burial will follow in Walnut Valley Cemetery, rural Barton County, Kansas.
Memorials may be made to the Eureka Township for the benefit of the Walnut Valley Cemetery fencing project , in care of Nicholson-Ricke Funeral Home, PO Box 146, Hoisington, KS 67544.