Evelyn E. Downing

RICHMOND, Ind. – Evelyn Eileen Downing, age 99, of Richmond, died Friday, February 13, 2009, at Golden Living Center, Oakridge with her daughter at her side. Evelyn was born May 23, 1909 in South Whitley, Indiana, to Laura and Arley Tully. She spent most of her childhood and growing-up years in Goshen, Indiana where she graduated from Goshen High School. After graduation she held various secretarial and clerical jobs at Keely Tool and Die Co., and the Telephone Company. She married Donald Downing on August 6, 1932. They moved to Elkhart, Indiana, where she lived for 64 years. She moved back to Goshen in 1998 and then to Richmond in 2003. She was a devoted wife, mother, grandmother, sister and daughter and loved her family very much. She liked to fish and enjoyed many summer family vacations at the lake, particularly in Spooner, Wisconsin. She was an excellent cook and seamstress and loved to read and play bridge. She and her husband enjoyed traveling together and had visited many parts of the United States. She was active in the Elkhart Girl Scouts and served as secretary of the Elkhart Republican Party. She is a past president of the Elkhart Women’s Club and was a member of the Elkhart Garden Club. She is a past member of St. Paul’s Methodist Church in Elkhart, a present member of First United Methodist Church in Goshen, Indiana, and attended Central United Methodist Church here in Richmond. In 1957, her husband helped to organize the Credit Union at Adams & Westlake in Elkhart, Indiana. She became the office manager and worked there until retirement. She enjoyed painting and had exhibited her work at the Nappanee Art Festival and at the Elkhart Art League. In later years she and her sister had traveled together to study painting at Elder-Hostels in different parts of the country. Survivors include her daughter, Elva “Jody” Turner and her husband John of Richmond; two grandchildren, Wendy Haynes and her husband Ron of Jacksonville, Florida and Michael Turner of Newport Beach, California; two great-grandchildren, Emily and Ben Haynes of Jacksonville, Florida; one sister-in-law, Dorothy Tully of York, Pennsylvania; nieces and a nephew; grandnieces and grandnephews; and great-grandnieces and great-grandnephews. She was preceded in death by her husband who died in 1976, her parents, a brother Kermit “Bud” Tully and a sister Vivian Price. Visitation will be from 10 a.m. – 11 a.m. Monday, February 16, 2009, at Doan & Mills Funeral Home, 790 National Road West, Richmond. A funeral service will follow at 11 a.m. also at Doan & Mills Funeral Home with Pastor Eldon Harzman officiating. Burial will be at Rice Cemetery in Elkhart, Indiana, on Tuesday, February 17 at 2 p.m. with Pastor Ed Fritz of the Goshen First United Methodist Church officiating. Condolences may be sent to the family via the guest book at www.doanmillsfuneralhome.com.

Evelyn E. Downing

May 23, 1909 - February 13, 2009