Lily M. Houseman

Lily May Heeren Houseman died peacefully on December 3, 2020 at the Virginian Health Care Center in Fairfax. She was 102. Lily was born September 14, 1918. She was preceded in death by her husband Earl in 1997. They enjoyed 59 years of married life.

Lily is survived by her children Janice Meadows (Dave), Nancy Heng (Dean deceased), and Earl Arthur Houseman (Kim Penton); grandchildren Alan Meadows (Marci), Laura Meadows Vinzant (Schuyler), Mark Meadows (Tracie), Steven Heng (Mary Ellen) and Karen Heng Olson (Todd); and great grandchildren Stephany Dunlap, Marly Dunlap, Lily Meadows, Callie, Tara and Benjamin Vinzant, Peyton and Liam Meadows, Danika and Kadrian Olson.

Lily was born in her grandmother’s house in Dell Rapids, South Dakota. Her family lived on a farm 6 miles east of Dell Rapids. Shortly after her birth, her father and uncle decided to homestead in the newly opened Indian lands in the western part of the state. A “claim shack” was her home for much of her pre-school years. Their closest neighbors were Indians who sometimes brought them watermelons. On cold nights, Lily’s mom would heat rocks on the stove; they took the rocks to bed to keep them warm. Lily had a lifetime scar on her leg from a hot pointy rock that pressed into her leg while she slept.

Life on the homestead was hard and there wasn’t enough rain to grow crops. Because Lily’s grandmother lost her husband to the Spanish flu, she needed help on the family farm in southeastern South Dakota. So, after only a few years on the homestead, this was Lily’s dad’s impetus to move the family back to where her grandmother lived. There, Lily went to a rural public school and completed her schooling at age 17. She was first in her family to attend college.

Lily arrived at the University of South Dakota in Vermillion with $50 (tuition was $35) borrowed from her older sister Edie and the promise of a job. Unfortunately, the job fell through. College orientation was on her 18th birthday, Sept. 14, 1936. At the reception she had punch and cookies; all she had to eat that day. The following week she lived on a loaf of bread and a jar of peanut butter, not wanting to spend her precious book money on food. The college Dean learned of her situation and arranged for her to live in the dorm. This consumed all the money from her WPA job. After living in the dorm for a couple of weeks, a light housekeeping job became available. This would pay room and board.

While at the University of South Dakota, Lily met a handsome grad student named Earl Houseman from Armstrong, Iowa. They began spending considerable time together. After getting a two-year teacher’s certificate, Lily became the teacher/janitor at one-room schoolhouse in Lake Preston, SD. The following summer, Lily and Earl together dropped the envelope containing her resignation into a mailbox. They were wed September 3,1939 at the Houseman farm outside Armstrong, IA. That same morning the radio announced that France & England had declared war on Germany. World War II had begun.

Lily and Earl moved to Ames, IA where Lily attended Iowa State University and Earl was teaching and working on a PHD. Earl was recruited by the U.S. Department of Agriculture in Washington, DC to develop the crop reporting program. Lily stayed behind for 2 months to complete her BS on Technical Journalism before joining Earl. Earl was exempt from the draft because of the importance of crop forecasting. Lily worked as a plane spotter, helping to protect DC from German invasion.

Next came the babies. After Janice was born in 1945, the family moved to northern Virginia. Nancy followed in 1946 and Earl Arthur in 1951.

During these years Lily was active in Camp Fire Girls as a group leader for Nancy’s Bluebird and Camp Fire Girls groups. She also wrote a column for The Northern Virginia Sun, “Along the Trail”, a weekly feature of Camp Fire News. She served on the Board for the Greater DC area. She was a Cub Scout den mother for Earl/Chip. She was part of the National Board of Kappa Phi (a Methodist organization for college women) where she edited their magazine, the “Candle Beam”. She would leave her children in the capable hands of husband Earl and go off for 3-day national board meetings. This was unheard of for women in the 1950s. She became a lay speaker and could fill the pulpit in a Ministers’ absence. She gave a popular “Women of the Bible” talk, that was requested by churches, women’s groups, nursing homes, and other organizations in the area.

In 1948, Lily was introduced to Induk Pahk through Kappa Phi. Induk was a vivacious Korean woman who had a dream of furthering the educational opportunities of Korean youth. In the 1970’s, Lily and Earl became very involved in Induk’s Berea in Korea Foundation. In, 1994, the Foundation added a much-needed building at Induk University in Seoul, Korea, which they named Lily Hall, in Lily’s honor. Lily learned enough Korean to speak at the 1994 building dedication in Korea.

These were busy years, but Lily also managed to earn a Master’s degree in American History from American University in Washington, DC. President Kennedy gave his well-known “A Strategy of Peace” speech at her June 10,1963 graduation. In 1964, she began teaching English and Social Studies at Whittier Jr High.

As a child, Lily started a list of places she wanted to visit. Her first opportunity came when Earl had a 10-week assignment in Argentina. Lily took a leave from teaching and managed to get her son Earl/Chip out of school for a 2-week trip to South America. She continued to travel abroad until she was 88, riding camels in Egypt and Elephants in India. She would travel with Earl, friends, kids, or alone (with Elderhostel). In 1997, she went on a mission trip to Zimbabwe where she helped young men from central Africa with their English, so that they could attend Africa University. She acquired 4 African “grandsons”, to whom she provided financial support for their schooling.

In 1988 Earl and Lily moved to an independent living apartment at the Virginian and their life continued much as it had before. The Virginian offered further opportunities for Lily. She was twice president of the Association of Virginian Residents. She helped at vespers with the chaplain at the Virginian. She taught English as a Second Language to Virginian staff. She wrote her memoirs and helped other residents write theirs. She learned to make Ukrainian Easter Eggs and of course, taught classes. She was comfortable using a Macintosh and used Photoshop to edit her pictures. She continued to travel and gave popular travelogues of her many trips.

This amazing life ended December 3, 2020 when Lily died of TMB…Too Many Birthdays. In lieu of flowers memorial donations may be made to either the Wesley Theological Seminary Office of Development, 4500 Massachusetts Avenue, NW Washington, DC 20016 or Heifer International, PO Box 6021, Albert Lea, MN 56007.