First marriage to Herchel Lewis Bronkar (1923-1945) on 25 Jun 1944 in Fairview, OK; bur Roscoe Cem.
She and (2nd)husband Lindon moved from Wichita to the Iola area and purchased a farm in the early 1960's.
"I am still working/have had a book store, Samford’s Book Nook, for 38 years.
My son Richard who works for the University of Pittsburg-Library. His wife is Laura.
I have a daughter Sharon Lynne (b 17 Sep 1954 Wichita), her husband Richard Eugene Powell (b 21 Nov 1958), and son Joshua Ryan (b 27 Apr 1985) is 18." -2004
Closed her bookstore and retired Dec 2009, after 44 yrs.
[Obituary]
Dorothy Estep Samford passed away at Via Christie Village in Pittsburg, Kansas on Tuesday, January 15, 2019, at the age of ninety-four.
She was born September 25, 1924 to Virgil Ray Estep and Nina Alice Wells Estep on their family farm northwest of Iola.
She was graduated from the Iola High School in 1942, and Iola Junior College in 1949.
On June 25, 1944, she married Air Force Sargent Herchel Lewis Bronkar in Fairview, Oklahoma. He was stationed at Tyndall Air Force Base in Panama City Florida where he was an Aerial Gunnery Instructor. After the war they returned to Fairview, where he died August 26, 1945.
She met Lindon Samford in 1948, and on November 20, 1949 they married in Iola and made their home in Wichita. They were members of the Church of God (Seventh Day). They had three children; daughter Sheryl Jane, who died at birth, Sharon and Richard Samford.
In January 1966, the family returned to Iola, and Dorothy opened Samford’s Book Nook, where she met and made several generations of friends in its forty-four years of operation. Dorothy and Lindon attended a number of Christian Booksellers Conventions and had the privilege to meet authors such as Dr. Ben Carson, Joni Eareckson, Roy Rogers and Dale Evans to name just a few.
She was preceded by husband Lindon, a brother Victor Estep of Wichita, and sister Betty Estep Howland of Iola.
She is survived by daughter Sharon Samford Powell and her husband Richard of Iola, son Richard and wife Laura Mosley Samford of Carl Junction, Missouri, and four grandsons: Joshua Powell, Ethan, Parker and Marshall Samford.
Visitation will be from 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. on Thursday, January 17, 2019, in The Venue at Feuerborn Family Funeral Service, and a funeral service will be held Friday, January 18, 2019, at 2:00 p.m. in the Feuerborn Family Funeral Service Chapel, 1883 US Highway 54, Iola, Kansas. Wesley Walker, of the Ft. Smith Church of God (Seventh Day) officiating. Interment will follow at Highland Cemetery, Iola.
Memorials are suggested to the Iola Area Symphony Orchestra.