Elaine E. Birtch

She was born on April 6, 1932, in Niagara Falls, NY, to Hugo W. Gade and Evelyn Jagow Gade. She married Dr. Alan G. Birtch at St. John’s Lutheran Church in La Porte, IN, August 22, 1954. Alan preceded her in death on December 28, 2011.

Elaine grew up in the village of Bergholz, NY, as the oldest of four children. She attended the one-room school (Holy Ghost Lutheran School) where her father was her only teacher until high school. The family moved to La Porte, IN, in 1947. It was at La Porte High School that she met her future husband, Alan Birtch. She graduated from LPHS in 1949 and then from Concordia Teachers College in Seward, NE in 1953. Elaine and Alan were married in 1954 and moved to Baltimore where Alan attended Johns Hopkins Medical School.

She taught in Lutheran schools in Winston-Salem, Baltimore, and in the Brookline, MA public school system. In 1958, the couple moved to Boston for Alan’s surgical training at the Peter Bent Brigham Hospital. Here, their children were born, and she made many lifelong friends. In 1972, Elaine and Alan moved with their family to Springfield, IL, when Alan became a pioneer member of the Dept. of Surgery at the new SIU School of Medicine.

Elaine and Alan loved traveling to explore the world, and a highlight of their travel was taking each grandchild on a weeklong trip when they turned 10.

Her love of the arts and her Lutheran heritage was evident in her involvement by writing grants for visiting artists at Lutheran schools, helping create the Fine Arts Fair and Liturgical Art Fair for the Art Association, hosting, writing, and interviewing local and renowned artists for a local television show called Art Beat. Always a lifelong learner, Elaine was a member of Anti-Rust Club, PEO, Questers, and Bible study. She was a Stephen Minister and a member of St. John’s Lutheran Church.

She is survived by her sons, Grant (Susan) of Neenah, WI, Eric (Joanne) of Burr Ridge, and Mark (Susan) of Springfield; daughter, Jane (Oleg) Vatchev of Carol Stream, IL; grandchildren, Benjamin (Melissa) Birtch, Madeline (Justin) Zerin, Christopher (fiancé, Cori) Birtch, Michael Vatchev, Helena Vatchev, Sarah (Logan) Buerk, Alan Birtch II, Amanda Birtch, Emily Birtch, and Luke Birtch; great-grandchildren, Oliver and Cameron Zerin; sister-in-law, Mary Gade; nephews, Bill and Mike Thompson, and Christopher Gade; aunt, Marilyn Winter; dear friend and neighbor, Nancy Segatto; and friend and caretaker, Gayla Cheffey.

Visitation and Funeral Ceremony: Family will receive friends at 10:00 a.m. on Saturday, February 28, 2026, at St. John’s Lutheran Church, 2477 W. Washington St., Springfield, until the time of the Ceremony at 11:30 a.m. with Pastor Ryan Anderson officiating.

In lieu of flowers, please donate to: Springfield Memorial Foundation-Transplant Patient Assistance Fund.

The family is being served by Butler Funeral Home- Springfield, 900 S. 6th St., Springfield.