Twila M. Holthaus, 88, of Seneca, KS, died late Monday afternoon, February 28, 2005, at Stormont-Vail Hospital in Topeka.

She was born December 23, 1916, on a farm a quarter mile south of Centralia, the daughter of J.P. (Perry) and Lulu Hales Glancy. She attended Centralia School and graduated from Centralia High School in 1934.

She was a bookkeeper and clerk in the Farmers Union Store, a bookkeeper for Hodges Grain Exchange, and a clerk for Centralia Community Sale, all in Centralia. She graduated from the Parisian Beauty Academy of St. Joseph, MO and worked in a beauty shop in St. Joseph. She was licensed both in Missouri and Kansas.

On October 5, 1940, she married Paul Holthaus in Marysville. They lived in Savannah, MO for a short time and then moved to Centralia where she owned and operated her beauty shop. In 1960 she was elected to the office of Register of Deeds of Nemaha County, which she held until her retirement in 1981. After her retirement they moved to Seneca. Her husband Paul died April 18, 1998.

She was a member of Sts. Peter & Paul Church, St. Ann’s Altar Society, the GFWC Seneca Woman’s Club, the Nemaha Valley Hospital Guild, and the Seneca Business and Professional Women’s Club, who chose her as Woman of the Year in 1978. She served as chairperson for the Nemaha County Unit of the American Cancer Society. While in office she was a member of the Kansas Official Council and the Register of Deeds Association of Northeast Kansas and also served as its president. For several years, she was the Nemaha County co-chairman of the Republican Party Central Committee. Her hobbies were playing cards, cooking, and crocheting.

Survivors are two daughters, Ann Stevenson of Topeka and Joan Bauer of Enid, OK, a daughter-in-law, Connie Holthaus of Lecompton, KS; six grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.

Besides her husband, she was preceded in death by a son, Bernard P. “Bernie” Holthaus, II on December 17 2002; twin daughters, Mary Jane and Martha Jean in 1950; three brothers Raymond, Floyd, and Glen Glancy; and two sisters, Fern Glancy and Mabel Hodges.

A memorial mass will be offered at 10:30 A.M. Friday, March 4, at Sts. Peter & Paul Church in Seneca. There will be a prayer service at 7 PM Thursday at Lauer Funeral Home in Seneca. Inurnment will be in the church cemetery at a later date. Mrs. Holthaus donated her body to the University of Kansas Medical Center.

Memorials may be given for the American Heart Association, the Cancer Society, or the Nemaha Valley Community Hospital Guild, and sent in care of the family.