EILEEN MAYVIS WOELL

Eileen Mayvis Woell, nee Howard, age 95, a resident of Wheaton, IL for 51 years, passed away at her home on Sunday, November 7, 2021. She was born February 23, 1926 on a farm near Red Lake Falls, Minnesota to Lloyd and Alpha (nee Marmorine) Howard, the oldest of six children.

In 1933 the Howard family moved to the farm of Lloyd's parents in rural Plummer so that their children could receive their education from a consolidated school instead of the rural one‑room schoolhouse. Eileen was a graduate of Plummer's Pershing High School and the Red Lake Falls teacher training department. She taught for several years in one-room rural schools around the Crookston area. Her activities in the home economics department of 4‑H club work attracted nationwide attention when she was chosen as the most outstanding 4‑H girl in Minnesota. This was based on the accumulation of all the ribbons she'd won over the last 10 years for canning, sewing, raising sheep, judging dairy cattle and gardening.

Eileen met her husband, Melvin Woell, when they both had booths at the Red Lake County Fair, his was for Farm Bureau, and hers for 4‑H club work. Melvin was at the fair representing Farm Bureau and was the judge of the 4-H booths. Eileen's booth won Grand Champion, after which he invited her out for lunch. They were married a year later. Their October 5, 1947 wedding was the first to be held in the Plummer Presbyterian church.

After their marriage they moved to Crookston, MN where Eileen worked for the University of Minnesota teaching rural women cooking, canning and sewing. She also had a half hour radio show every Saturday, following Melvin's half hour Farm Bureau program. During the show she talked about canning, sewing and cooking. The consumer pressure cooker market took off in the late 1940's, after the war, and one of Eileen's tasks was to teach women over the radio how to use the pressure cooker so that they didn't blow up the house.

Shortly after their daughter R.Dee was born in 1950 they moved to Kasson, MN. They were living there when daughter Vicky was born in Owatonna in 1952. From there they moved to St. Paul where their son Mark was born in 1954. They continued to move around the north central states as Melvin's career with Farm Bureau grew -- Jefferson City, MO from 1956‑1960, where Eileen studied and received her Cosmetology license – Lansing, MI in 1960-1970 where Eileen worked as a department secretary in the College of Home Economics at Michigan State University – Wheaton, Illinois in 1970 where Eileen worked for 19 years as the Assistant Superintendent's secretary and in the Personnel Office of Wheaton School District 200 before retiring in 1990.

Soon after Eileen retired, Bethel Presbyterian Church's Treasurer was looking for help, and since she'd spent the last 20 years doing salaries and other financial matters for the school district, she figured she'd be a good fit for the job. In 2015, after 25 years of helping do the finances for Bethel, and at the age of 90, she decided it was time to retire for good a second time.

She is survived by her children, R.Dee L. Woell, of Lansing MI, Vicky (Jim) Krupka of Lombard and Mark (Gail) Woell of Littleton, CO, three grandchildren, Jessica (Greg) Szegeski, Jasan (Dr. Marianne) Krupka, and Dana Woell, two great-grandchildren, Jasan and Blake Szegeski. She is also survived by her brother Dwight (Stella) Howard. She was preceded in death by her husband Melvin in 2010, her parents and two brothers and two sisters.

A funeral service will be held on Saturday, November 13, 2021 at at Bethel Presbyterian Church, 1401 S Naperville Rd, Wheaton, IL 60189, at 10:30 a.m.  Friends may visit with the family from 9:30 to 10:30 a.m. Interment will be held at Wheaton Cemetery in Wheaton, Illinois.

Memorial gifts may be directed to Bethel Presbyterian Church.

Family and friends may sign a guest book at hultgrenfh.com. For more information, please call Hultgren Funeral Home at 630-668-0027.