M. Evelyn (Everly) Elbert (1919-2015)
ELBERT, EVERLY, KINNEY, SMITH, HAUPT
Posted By: Mark Christian
Date: 2/10/2015 at 21:45:05
From Stevens Memorial Chapel obituary, Ames, Story County, Iowa:
M. Evelyn Elbert
Decades before Ancestors.com, Marie Evelyn Everly Elbert traced her family back 11 generations to 16th century England and her husband's ancestors back nine generations to 17th century Germany.
The mother of four, grandmother of nine and great-grandmother of six died Saturday at the Ankeny home she shared with her daughter. She was 95. The only thing she ever hated was her first name, which she never used.
Evelyn was born Aug. 12, 1919, on a farm near Bondurant. In 1930, her father built a mobile home on a truck chassis and drove the family on a three-month tour of the American West. It was a magical trip, which she later recreated in stages for her own children.
In February 1931, just three months after they returned, her father was killed by a drunken driver, prompting the family to move from the farm into Bondurant.
Evelyn was the first in her family to attend and graduate from college, receiving a teaching degree in home economics in 1942 from Iowa State College, which is where she met her future husband.
She taught home economics in Collins, Iowa, for a year before marrying Willis Robert Elbert on June 1, 1943, in Midland, Tex., where he was stationed as an airplane mechanic for the Army Air Corps.
After the war, they settled in Ames where Willis worked for the Iowa Highway Commission. Four children were born between December 1945 and October 1949.Evelyn spent the first half of the 1950s herding Cub Scout troops and the second half trying to keep her brood out of trouble with jobs mowing lawns, baby sitting and making Plaster of Paris figurines that were sold to a summer school art program.
When the children reached high school, Evelyn returned to a job as a bookkeeper at the Iowa State University Press, where she remained until retirement in 1985.
Willis retired from his job as a materials inspector for the Iowa Department of Transportation in 1986. For three glorious years, they traveled and spent the winters in Texas, where Willis died of a heart attack 25 years ago this month.
In addition to her husband, Evelyn was preceded in death 14 months ago by her older sister Dorothy Kinney and by granddaughter Lisa Elbert of Ames.
She is survived by her brother Aubrey Everly of rural Bondurant; her four children, Stephen (Vanda) Elbert in Richland, Wash., David (Amy) Elbert in Des Moines, Catherine Elbert Smith in Ankeny and Jack (Irene) Elbert in Cedar Falls; her daughter-in-law Carol Haupt Elbert in Ames; eight grandchildren; and six great-grandchildren.
Services will be at Wednesday at 10:30 am at St. Cecilia Church in Ames with a visitation before the service from 9:30am to 10:30am.
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