Ferne Elaine Tasker passed away peacefully in her home, March 5,2024 after an extended battle with pancreatic cancer.

The third child of Richard Waldean Tasker and Inez Marguerite (Mahin) Tasker, Ferne was born on the 15th of April 1956 in Concordia, Kansas. Her parents moved to a farm north of Abilene when she was three years of age and she cut her teeth accompanying her mother on the tractor as both her parents worked in the field. The family continued to grow and a younger sister was soon added to the count. As Ferne grew older, she spent many hours working alongside her father and older brothers in the field and her mother and younger sister in the home. Enjoying life on the farm playing and working outdoors, she developed a love of gardening and outdoor activities. There were many happy
memories of family meals, projects, outings and vacations as the family grew, worked, played, and worshipped together.

Ferne attended Manchester Elementary in a class of three, transferring to Talmage Elementary when the two schools gradually merged over several years. She graduated in 1974 from Chapman High School in Kansas, then attended Bartlesville Wesleyan College in Oklahoma. Returning home to Kansas, she went to work at Abilene Memorial Hospital before continuing her education and graduated from Brown Mackie Business College in Salina, Kansas.

She married Tim Lloyd in 1979 and two sons were born to that union, Brendan and Sean. They divorced when the boys were young.

After the divorce, Ferne worked in Topeka a number of years as an independent insurance agent then went to work for Topeka Public Schools, USD #501. Her pride in her sons kept her involved as a pack leader during their Cub Scout years and then secretary for their Boy Scout troop as they progressed through Life and Eagle Ranks. Many Boy Scout campouts and trips later, both boys joined JROTC in high school and she enthusiastically participated in their JROTC Parent Support Group working fundraisers and driving vans of team members to competitions in Kansas and surrounding states.

Once the boys were grown, Ferne moved to Rodgers Airport near Lyndon, Kansas in 2008 and married Roger Evans in 2018. In the summers, Ferne enjoyed traveling with her husband on the semi as he worked from coast to coast, where she had the opportunity to visit many places she had not previously experienced.

Ferne and Roger attended the Lyndon United Methodist Church in a family of brothers and sisters in Christ where she served on the Board of Trustees and was active in United Women in Faith.

In 2022 Ferne retired from Topeka Public Schools, where she worked for 21 years, honing her organizational skills as Administrative Assistant to the Principal. During that time she worked in two elementary schools, Lundgren and Highland Park Central, with numerous principals.

A member of the Lyndon Lions Club, she held various offices, serving as President from 2021-2023.

Besides her love of family, among Ferne's personal interests were a love of reading, crossword puzzles, gardening, cooking, and camping with family and friends. Writing poetry was a great comfort to her, especially in the later years of her life as she expressed through verse her questions, fears, faith, and triumphs in God.

Ferne was preceded in death by her mother, Marguerite Tasker.

She is survived by her husband, Roger Evans, of the home; her sons Brendan (Jordan) Lloyd and Sean Lloyd (Erikah Bahret) of Topeka; her three siblings, Alan (Linda) Tasker of Philippi, West Virginia, Stanley (Judy) Tasker of Bartlesville, Oklahoma, and Kaye Neely of Garden Plain, Kansas; her father Richard Tasker, also of Garden Plain, Kansas; and numerous nieces, nephews, and great-nieces and nephews.

A Celebration of Life for Ferne will be held at 11:00am on Saturday, March 16 at the Lyndon United Methodist Church. The family will receive friends from 10:00am until service time. Her ashes will be inurned at 3:45pm on Saturday, March 16 at the Hall Cemetery of Hall Wesleyan Church near Delphos in Ottawa County near her parents and many other family members. Memorial contributions in memory of Ferne may be made to the Lyndon United Methodist Church or the Lions Club, sent in care of Feltner Funeral Home, 818 Topeka Avenue, Lyndon, KS 66451.