Elda Evelyn Ebel, 94, homemaker, died Tuesday, Aug. 30, 2011, at Life Care Center of Cheyenne, Wyo.
Services will be 10:30 a.m. Sept. 9 at Zion Lutheran Church in Hillsboro, with Rev. Brett Huebner officiating; interment will be at Zion Lutheran Cemetery. Visitation will be 5 to 7 p.m. Sept. 8 at Jost funeral Home in Hillsboro.
Elda was born June 20, 1917, to Gustav A. and Martha (Hiebert) Matz on a farm near Lehigh. She attended Hillsboro Grade School and graduated from Hillsboro High School in 1936.
On Oct. 9, 1940 she eloped and married Walter Robert Ebel who preceded her on Jan. 13,1987. They paid for their elopement to Oklahoma by mending holes in flour sacks for 10 cents a sack.
In 1946 they purchased a wheat farm near Chugwater, Wyo., where they spent the summers during their married life. Elda enjoyed playing bingo, cards and doing crafts, ceramics, and had many other hobbies throughout her lifetime.
She was baptized and confirmed at Zion Lutheran Church of which she was an active lifelong member. She especially enjoyed entertaining and cooking in her home for their numerous friends and relatives. Her longtime companion Bingo (the cat), who has a notorious reputation as an escape artist along with a rap sheet at the Hillsboro Police Department, will remain in Cheyenne with his not-so-notorious feline buddy, Jingo.
Survivors include sons Donald (Peggy) Ebel of Arvada, Colo., and Dennis Ebel of Chugwater, Wyo.; daughter Debra (Rick) Eccli of Cheyenne, Wyo.; brothers Raymond Matz of Hillsboro, Leroy Matz of Thornton, Colo., and Ronald Matz of Lehigh; sister Myrtle Nesius of Littleton, Colo.; five grandchildren and 14 great grandchildren; Bingo and Jingo.
She was preceded in death by an infant brother, her parents, her husband, brother Clinton Matz, and sister LaVera Woodward.
Pallbearers will be Rick Matz, Ray Dean Matz, Reginald Matz, Lonnie Matz, Vaughn Matz, and Wayne Ebel.
In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to Zion Lutheran Church 106 N. Lincoln, Hillsboro KS 67063 or the Hillsboro Senior Center 212 N. Main St., Hillsboro KS 67063.