Elaine E. Eaton

On the evening of March 26, 2024 at Concordia Lutheran Village Skilled Care in Springfield, IL, Elaine Erna Brauer Eaton was ushered into Heaven less than a month before her 91st birthday. She was born to Cornelius Brauer and Minnie Claus on April 23, 1933 in St. Peter, IL.

In 1951, she graduated from Vandalia Community High School and became a housewife and mother. In 1964, she earned her Licensed Practical Nurse certification from the Decatur School of Practical Nursing. In 1976, she took classes in Purchasing at LincolnLand Community College, and she worked as a purchasing agent at SIU School of Medicine Purchasing Department until an early retirement to care for her father following a severe stroke. One of her favorite professional memories was purchasing the first computers for the School of Medicine!

In October 1977, she married for a second time and was a caring wife for nearly 47 years to Vernon Carroll Eaton, who preceded her in death on January 30, 2024, just 56 days prior to her passing. Together with Vernon, she became an active member of Good Shepherd Lutheran Church in Rochester, IL, and their Lutheran faith was a cornerstone of their Christian lives.

In addition to being proud of her German Lutheran heritage, she was known for a strong dedication to her heirloom quilting, abundant vegetable and flower gardening, homemade family dinners created from her hundreds of collected recipes, never saying no to a child who begged for one more game of Uno, St. Louis Cardinals baseball and University of Illinois football and basketball. Her love of birdwatching meant she could whistle an Oriole song in the spring and get a response, and that Hummingbirds would gather by the dozens around her own preparation of sugar water.

Following in the footsteps of her paternal great-grandmother, her grandmother and mother, she began quilting after her children were raised and became a member of the Springfield Quilt Guild. In 2010, one of her greatest honors and favorite memory was winning Best of Show at the Q.U.I.L.T.S. show for her Baltimore Album quilt that was hand-stitched over 12 years with 1,353 handmade circles based on the Robert Callaham circle-making method and featured an original block design called “The Quilting Lady” made as a challenge at one of her classes.

She is mother to Barbara Ann, Patricia Jo, and Steven Kenneth. Barbara and Patricia preceded her in death. She is grandmother of five, great-grandmother of six, and aunt to numerous nieces and nephews.

Cremation rites to be performed by Bisch Funeral Home, and interment of ashes will be at Camp Butler National Cemetery in the same niche as her veteran husband with the engraving, “Together with God.”

The family would like to thank friends for their well wishes and prayers, the caregivers and clergy at Concordia Lutheran Village and especially the staff at Summer Breeze and Memorial Hospice Care for their skilled and graceful care of Elaine during her final days with us. Memorial donations may be made to Rochester Good Shepherd Lutheran Church, Lutheran Senior Services, the National Quilt Museum in Paducah, KY, or by planting a Celebrity tomato plant this summer.