Eula Matney Wollard...Age92

MEMORIAL SERVICE :

2:00PM FRIDAY MAY 24, 2013 FIRST METHODIST CHURCH 504 PACIFIC OSAWATOMIE, KS.

MEMORIALS: FIRST METHODIST CHURCH OF OSAWATOMIE.

Memorials may be sent in care of the Eddy-Birchard Funeral Home P.O. Box 430, Osawatomie, KS 66064

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Eula Matney Wollard, 92, died Feb. 26, 2013, in Portland, Ore., where she and her late husband, Forrest, had moved to be close to her daughter and son-in-law, Peggy and Bob Kirkendall.

Eula was born July 25, 1920, to Cowan and Elsie Bearly on a farm near Goodrich. The second of two children, she attended high school in Parker. Following her graduation at age 16, she went to live with family friends in Kansas City where she worked as a secretary until she turned 18 and was able to enter Pittsburg State Teacher’s College.

At age 20, following the enlistment of her fiancé, she moved to Chicago where she worked as a courier carrying classified documents during World War II. At age 25, she married Alva C. Griffith, and had her only child the following year.

Returning to Goodrich in 1948, Eula and Alva helped her father manage the farm following his illness. In 1952, they purchased a farm near Fort Scott, and she became a secretary at a local insurance company.

In 1956, she entered cosmetology school. Upon completion and licensure, they purchased two beauty shops, one in Iola and another in Humboldt. She and her husband amicably divorced in 1960.

In 1963, she married Howard Matney of Osawatomie and her family suddenly expanded with the addition of 6 stepchildren and 13 grandchildren with more to arrive later.

Following the sale of her beauty shops, she became active in the Osawatomie United Methodist Church and started a Bible study in her home. Upon Howard’s sudden death in 1980, she moved to Houston and lived with her daughter and son-in-law where she attended a nine-month ministry training institute and grieved.

She returned to Osawatomie in 1982 and married Forrest A. Wollard in 1983. In 2003 they moved to Oregon. Forrest died in 2005.She lived alone until 2012 when health issues from congestive heart failure took her to her daughter’s home.

In December she entered a nursing facility where she received excellent care until her death.