Notwithstanding any provisions of Kan. Stat. Ann. §§ 74-4927 or any provisions of the group life insurance policy purchased by the Kansas public employees retirement system pursuant to such section to the contrary, the board of trustees of the Kansas public employees retirement system shall pay to the spouse of an employee who was first employed on August 23, 1973, whose last day actively at work, due to illness, was September 25, 1974, who became a member of the system on October 1, 1974, and who died on July 7, 1979, an amount equal to the insured death benefit which such spouse would have been entitled to receive had such employee been eligible for the insured death benefit under the provisions of such group life insurance contract.