Obituary for Eunice B. Hanthorn
Eunice B. Hanthorn, 94, of Watertown, South Dakota passed away October 12, 2019, at the home of Phil and Martha Hanthorn Scales, in Madison, Wisconsin.
Eunice Elizabeth Badger Hanthorn was born to Frank Henderson and Beulah Idell Raines Badger at the family farm in Sullivan County, Turman Township, on April 5, 1925. She graduated from Graysville High School in 1943. Her plans to enter Chicago’s St. Joseph School of Nursing were delayed, and she and her sisters Halcyon and Hester began work at the Bloomington, IN, RCA wartime production plant, which supplied top-secret VT proximity fuses named “Madame X” to the U.S. Navy. In 1944, she moved to Phoenix, Arizona, for the duration of World War II, working in the Engineering Department of Goodyear Aircraft Corporation, where she collated and delivered aircraft blueprints for conversion from the European to Pacific arena. After VJ Day she returned to Indiana, where she was employed as Paymaster and Head Cashier at Root’s Department Store in Terre Haute and later in the Administration office on the Bloomington campus of Indiana University.
Following her marriage to Melvin E. Hanthorn on December 24, 1960, at Kingsley Chapel in Indiana, Eunice moved to Watertown, where they raised their family. A loving mother and homemaker, she cherished her close relationships with her children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren. She took great pride in serving her community as a leader for the Helping Hands 4-H group, Brownies and Cub Scouts, Roosevelt Elementary School PTA, and was an active member of the Watertown Republican Women’s Club.
She loved to read, play cards, and attend concerts. She enjoyed traveling and visited family on both the East and West Coasts, the Philippines and England. Mel and Eunice were the original Watertown “fixer uppers”, flipping houses long before it became a “thing”. In her later years, she was Melvin’s partner in designing and sewing kites for children with disabilities, and kept the coffee pot hot and filled for the diamond-willow cane carvers that assembled every morning at their home. When Melvin was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease she formed Watertown’s first Parkinson’s Support Group, and for her advocacy on behalf of Parkinson’s patients, she received the regional SmithKline Beecham Caring Hands Award and was then named National Caregiver of the Year in 1998.
Eunice is preceded in death by her husband, her parents and parents-in-law, brothers Lowell and Philip Badger, sisters Halcyon Winters, Hester Hall and Mary Badger, sisters-in-law Nellie Badger, Betty Hanthorn, Carol Nesheim, Irene Hanthorn and Violet Hanthorn; brothers-in-law Donald Winters, Hugh Hall, Arlyle Fryslie, Jesse Hanthorn, Everett Hanthorn and Walter Hanthorn, Noel Peterson, Gene Nesheim, Kenneth Johnson and Boyd Peterson; and granddaughter Rosanna Kleinheksel.
Survivors include her loving children: Martha (Phil) Scales, Hilarie (Scott) Folk, Stephanie (Jay T.) Goldhorn, Brock (Madalena) Hanthorn and Bruce (Julie) Hanthorn; her devoted grandchildren, great-grandchildren, nieces and nephews; and her sisters-in law Freda Badger, Mary Peterson, Dorothy Johnson, Charlene Peterson, and Geraldine Fryslie. She also leaves behind her dear friends Howard and Sandi Hockenson, Jerry Kleinheksel, Robert Vockrodt, Carl Sommer, Jacqueline Vockrodt and Jan Rudebusch.
Visitation will be 5-8 pm on Friday, October 18, followed by the funeral service at 11 am on Saturday October 19. Both visitation and services will be held at Wight and Comes Funeral Chapel in Watertown, SD.
Memorials may be directed to the Watertown Regional Library or the American Heart Association.
Eunice Elizabeth Badger Hanthorn was born to Frank Henderson and Beulah Idell Raines Badger at the family farm in Sullivan County, Turman Township, on April 5, 1925. She graduated from Graysville High School in 1943. Her plans to enter Chicago’s St. Joseph School of Nursing were delayed, and she and her sisters Halcyon and Hester began work at the Bloomington, IN, RCA wartime production plant, which supplied top-secret VT proximity fuses named “Madame X” to the U.S. Navy. In 1944, she moved to Phoenix, Arizona, for the duration of World War II, working in the Engineering Department of Goodyear Aircraft Corporation, where she collated and delivered aircraft blueprints for conversion from the European to Pacific arena. After VJ Day she returned to Indiana, where she was employed as Paymaster and Head Cashier at Root’s Department Store in Terre Haute and later in the Administration office on the Bloomington campus of Indiana University.
Following her marriage to Melvin E. Hanthorn on December 24, 1960, at Kingsley Chapel in Indiana, Eunice moved to Watertown, where they raised their family. A loving mother and homemaker, she cherished her close relationships with her children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren. She took great pride in serving her community as a leader for the Helping Hands 4-H group, Brownies and Cub Scouts, Roosevelt Elementary School PTA, and was an active member of the Watertown Republican Women’s Club.
She loved to read, play cards, and attend concerts. She enjoyed traveling and visited family on both the East and West Coasts, the Philippines and England. Mel and Eunice were the original Watertown “fixer uppers”, flipping houses long before it became a “thing”. In her later years, she was Melvin’s partner in designing and sewing kites for children with disabilities, and kept the coffee pot hot and filled for the diamond-willow cane carvers that assembled every morning at their home. When Melvin was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease she formed Watertown’s first Parkinson’s Support Group, and for her advocacy on behalf of Parkinson’s patients, she received the regional SmithKline Beecham Caring Hands Award and was then named National Caregiver of the Year in 1998.
Eunice is preceded in death by her husband, her parents and parents-in-law, brothers Lowell and Philip Badger, sisters Halcyon Winters, Hester Hall and Mary Badger, sisters-in-law Nellie Badger, Betty Hanthorn, Carol Nesheim, Irene Hanthorn and Violet Hanthorn; brothers-in-law Donald Winters, Hugh Hall, Arlyle Fryslie, Jesse Hanthorn, Everett Hanthorn and Walter Hanthorn, Noel Peterson, Gene Nesheim, Kenneth Johnson and Boyd Peterson; and granddaughter Rosanna Kleinheksel.
Survivors include her loving children: Martha (Phil) Scales, Hilarie (Scott) Folk, Stephanie (Jay T.) Goldhorn, Brock (Madalena) Hanthorn and Bruce (Julie) Hanthorn; her devoted grandchildren, great-grandchildren, nieces and nephews; and her sisters-in law Freda Badger, Mary Peterson, Dorothy Johnson, Charlene Peterson, and Geraldine Fryslie. She also leaves behind her dear friends Howard and Sandi Hockenson, Jerry Kleinheksel, Robert Vockrodt, Carl Sommer, Jacqueline Vockrodt and Jan Rudebusch.
Visitation will be 5-8 pm on Friday, October 18, followed by the funeral service at 11 am on Saturday October 19. Both visitation and services will be held at Wight and Comes Funeral Chapel in Watertown, SD.
Memorials may be directed to the Watertown Regional Library or the American Heart Association.