John and Shirley Riffel of Newton, Jo Anne Thomas of Mission Hills, and Jim and Val Thomas of Raymore, Mo., announce the engagement and approaching marriage of their children, Mandy Riffel and Bradley Thomas of Kansas City.

A granddaughter of Clayton and Wanda Hamm, the bride-to-be is a 2003 graduate of Newton High School and a 2007 graduate of Kansas State University with a bachelor’s degree in microbiology.

The groom-elect is a 2002 graduate of Shawnee Mission East High School and a 2006 graduate of the University of Colorado with a bachelor’s degree in molecular, cellular, and developmental biology.

Both are employed in the clinical pharmacology department of Children’s Mercy Hospital.

The couple plan to wed Aug. 10 in Kansas City.