HUTCHINSON, Kan. —The Kansas State Fair is all about tradition. Margaret Doornbos certainly was a part of that tradition and had been a regular participant. For years the 100-year-old Butler County resident would enter hand-painted china that won ribbons on a regular basis. She also had entries in this year’s fair although she never got a chance to take in the event. Doornbos was in the hospital when the fair started. She died on Sunday.

Doornbos was well known at the fair as she won awards for her work often with her china, but also with a quilt that she made over a period of years. Too sick to come to the fair, her entries were brought in by the family.

Doornbos won an award this year for her china painting -a porcelain cutting board- and a second award for her quilt entry. Anna Margaret Haines was born on Thursday, December 19, 1918, west of Rosalia, Kansas. Margaret graduated from El Dorado High School in 1936 then attended and graduated from El Dorado Junior College.

She began her teaching career after passing the state test in 1939. She married Robert Doornbos in 1941 and was married until his death in 1997. She began painting china in 1970 and started quilting four years later. She continued to be active in both and continued to work at the Coutts Art Museum in El Dorado until she was 90.