Elaine Shenk (Yeackly) Wampler

She graduated from Hesston Mennonite High School in 1956. She met Byron Shenk in Goshen, Indiana and they were married on June 4, 1961 and had three children together. The family lived in Indiana, India, and Oregon before settling in Harrisonburg, Virginia. Elaine kept busy nurturing her boys throughout their childhood and adolescence, attending soccer games, ferrying to piano lessons, and hosting neighborhood friends. After divorcing in 1980, she went back to school and earned a teaching certificate from Eastern Mennonite College and taught special education for a year, before attending cosmetology school and becoming a hairstylist. An entrepreneurial person, she went on to open her own salon, Elaine’s Hair Styling, which she owned and operated for a number of years, and which became a downtown Harrisonburg institution.

In 1994 she met Dr. Garland Wampler. They were married July 7, 1995 and soon moved to Mint Springs, Virginia. They enjoyed numerous pastimes together, particularly RV camping. On an RV trip to Sebring, Florida in 2002, they were enticed by palm trees and warm weather and moved there soon after, where they lived ever since.

She was a loving wife and mother who greeted everyone she met with a smile. She was energetic, quick to laugh, and could be mischievous. Elaine had a knack for gift-giving and sending cards and care packages to her loved ones throughout her life. In her retirement, she kept busy making jewelry and doing extensive genealogical research. She loved to travel as she and Garland spent much of their latter years together touring the country in their RV, visiting favorite people and places. Her accepting spirit and unfailing encouragement will be sorely missed.

Survivors include her husband, Garland Wampler, three children, Eric (and Charlene) Shenk, Todd Shenk (and Nanci Luna Jimenez), and Troy (and Cassandra) Shenk, three step children, Neal (and Marsha) Wampler, Emily Wampler (and Chris Duby), Joe (and Carolyn) Wampler, and 12 grandchildren.

Services will be held in Weyers Cave, VA in April. Visit her online memorial at https://www.dignitymemorial.com/obituaries/weyers-cave-va/elaine-wampler-11176924#remembering