Edna Mae "Eddie" Eckhardt, 85, of Buffalo Prairie, passed away Sunday, December 21, 2014 at All American Care of Muscatine. Funeral services will be 10:00 a.m. Saturday at the Wheelan-Pressly Funeral Home, Reynolds. Burial will follow in Buffalo Prairie Cemetery. Visitation will be held from 5:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. Friday at the funeral home with an Eastern Star service at 7:00 p.m. Memorials may be made in care of the Order of the Eastern Star #615.
Eddie was born on October 13, 1929 and raised in Aledo, Ill., a daughter of Claude and Mary (Wilson) Taylor. She graduated from Joy High School. She married Ernest O. "Dutch" Eckhardt on February 11, 1951 in Aledo.
Eddie and Dutch spent 15 years in Kansas City, Missouri. Eddie worked 5 years for the Missouri Pacific Railroad and 10 years at Rothschild's Store in the Men's Clothing Department. Later, they relocated to San Marcos, CA, near San Diego, and Eddie worked as the office manager at La Morie Mobile Home Park for 15 years before moving back to the family farm in Buffalo Prairie. Eddie was a loving homemaker for her husband and her son, Craig Alan. She greatly enjoyed spending time with her large extended family and working outdoors. She was a dedicated member of the Buffalo Prairie Presbyterian Church and the Order of the Eastern Star #615, serving as Worthy Matron.
Left to cherish her memory are her husband; son, Craig A. (Jeannette) Eckhardt, Carmel, Ind.; grandchildren, Alan Eckhardt and Erica Thompson; step-grandchildren, Kent Boyer and Lani Tocheck; great-grandchildren, Ashur and Nyx Jo Eckhardt, Reilly Thompson, Lukis and Tristan Boyer, Sieara and Aleah Tocheck, along with many nieces and nephews.
She was preceded in death by her parents, brother, Kenny Taylor; and her sisters Frances Krueger, Marjorie Hudson, infant Mary Lou Taylor and Delores Taylor who was born blind and lived 5 years.