Eloise F. Brune

Eloise F. Brune, 100, of Evansville, passed away peacefully on Monday, June 20, 2011, at Atria Senior Living, surrounded by her loving family. She was born November 25, 1910, in Evansville, to William and Laura Brune.

She was a graduate of Central High School. During World War II she was sent to Europe with the American Red Cross and served in England, France and Germany. In 1948, upon the death of her father, she returned to the US and went to work as secretary to Ellis A. Carson, who had just founded Sky Service Corp., one of the first fixed-base air operations in the Tri-State area. Mr. Carson was a Major in the Army Air Corps and flew the “Hump” in the China-Burma-India (CBI) Theater of war. In 1952 he and Peter Gatch founded Sunbeam Plastics Corp. and Eloise served as secretary of the corporation. The business was housed in a hangar built by Republic Aviation in 1942 and was a modification center for P-47 Thunderbolts. In the early days of the business, the three worked at desks, heated by space heaters in the winter with Mr. Carson’s Stinson airplane parked nearby. Eloise would type in her coat. Sunbeam made tamper-resistant caps and was sold to Rexam Closures in the 1980’s. Eloise worked as Mr. Carson’s secretary until his death in 1984. After that, she worked for Mrs. Carson until her death. Eloise devoted her life to other people and especially her family. She was a much beloved daughter, sister and aunt.

Eloise was preceded in death by her parents, William and Laura Brune; sister, Mary Jane Gelhausen; and nephew, Michael Gelhausen.

She is survived by her sister, Billie Bristow; niece, Pamela (Don) Easton of Pompano Beach, FL; nephew, David (Linda) Gelhausen of Zionsville, IN; great-nephew, Robert Gelhausen of Zionsville, IN; and great-niece, Heather (Jeremy) Manion of Chicago, IL.

A private celebration of Eloise’s life will be held at a later date.

The family would like to extend their gratitude to the staff of Atria Senior Living, Home Instead Senior Care and AseraCare Hospice Organization for the loving care and kindness they gave to Eloise.

In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to the Vanderburgh Humane Society, PO Box 6711, Evansville, IN 47719-0711, as Eloise was a lover of animals, especially dogs.