Wellington, Kan. - Kansas State Rep. Ted Powers, R-Mulvane, has died after he suffered a massive stroke Monday. He was 73. His wife, Betty Mae Powers, said the longtime legislator was on life support and listed in critical condition late Tuesday. Via Christi St. Francis spokesperson Maria Loving said this morning Powers had died. She was unable to give any additional details. Betty Mae Powers said her husband died Tuesday night after being taken off of life support. “There wasn’t any change. I think he was just gone from when it happened. The life support kept him breathing and when he quit breathing that was it,” she said. Powers has had a history of health problems including liver problems. His wife said he didn’t have a history of heart attacks or strokes. Rep. Vince Wetta, D-Wellington, said he first heard about the stroke Tuesday morning from a local resident and from a press release issued by the Democratic leaders office. Powers was first elected to the House in 1992 and had filed with the Kansas Secretary of State’s Office to run for another term this fall. Before his political career, Powers worked in the Mulvane school district for 36 years as a music teacher. He was also a retired farmer. Wetta said he doesn’t know what will happen to Power’s seat because of his death. “I enjoyed working with him. He was in bad health not this year but last year but he seemed to be doing a lot better. We joked around a lot together,” said Wetta. While the casino issue has been at the forefront of both Wetta and Power’s minds, they had remained not only fellow representatives, but friends. “Regardless of what our two communities are going through, we worked together on many other issues. I have a lot of respect for him,” said Wetta. Minority leader Dennis McKinney told the Wellington Daily News by phone this morning, he had a special bond with Powers, stemming from being in the largest freshmen class in this century. “We had, I think, 43 newcomers in 1993. So all of us who came in that year had a certain connection and we all worked together a lot,” said McKinney. The representative says he will remember Powers for his “good sense of humor.” McKinney says Powers’ footprint on the Kansas legislature will be left with the working people he helped in his community. “Ted always looked out for the working people. He knew a lot of his people who worked in Sedgwick County in the manufacturing plants and factories and he always looked out for them,” he said. McKinney also said “an overwhelming sense of fairness” will also be what Powers is remembered for. “He had a sense of fairness across the board and it didn’t bother him to cross party lines. I had a lot of respect for him because of that.” McKinney said. Betty Mae Powers said funeral plans will be made today at around 2 p.m. and added details are sketchy at the moment. She said the funeral will be in Mulvane. “I’m just in such a confused state right now,” she said.