Hanke, Anna Esther Buller (1908-1987)

Mennonite Weekly Review obituary: 1987 May 7 p. 10

Birth date: 1908

text of obituary:

Halstead Woman Dies After Fire Destrys Son's Rural Home

Halstead, Kan. — A 79-year-old woman died May 4 after a kitchen fire destroyed her son's farmhouse in rural Halstead, where she had been staying since her husband's death in March.

Anna Esther (Buller) Hanke was discovered alive in the bathroom of the burning house, but died of smoke inhalation and a heart attack at Bethel Deaconess Hospital in Newton.

Her 20-year-old grandson, David Hanke, was asleep in the basement when the blaze broke out shortly before 8:30 a.m. "He was awakened by a crash or something falling upstairs," said Harvey County Sheriff Galen Morford. "Upon going up into the main floor, he walked into an inferno and had to crawl to an entrance. He ran to a neighbor's house a quarter-mile north to report the fire."

Authorities said there was no way David Hanke could have saved his grandmother.

Authorities say the fire started in a plastic kitchen trash container, although they do not know the cause of the fire.

Anna Hanke's son, Jim, and his wife, Harriet, were at work in Newton when the fire started. Other survivors include two sons, a daughter, three brothers, three sisters, 10 other grandchildren and 12 great-grandchildren.

Funeral services for Anna Hanke were held May 6 at First Mennonite Church, Newton, where she was a member.