Elaine S. Slocum

Elaine Slocum, 68, passed away Thursday, August 19, 2004 at her home in Stevensville, after a year long battle with cancer.A Celebration of Life service will be held at 11:00A.M., Monday, August 23, 2004 with visitation beginning at 10:00A.M, at Kerley-Starks & Menchinger Funeral Home, 2650 Niles Road, St. Joseph, with the Rev. Greg Prather officiating. Cremation has taken place. Entombment of the ashes will be at Riverview Cemetery. In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to her grandchildren?s college fund through her husband Kent, or to Hospice at Home.Those wishing to share a memory or sign the guestbook online may do so at www.starksmenchinger.com Elaine was born on February 3, 1936 in Roslyn, South Dakota to Lars and Marie (Hatle) Skeide. She graduated from Roslyn (South Dakota) High School in 1953 and obtained her B. A. degree in Education and Psychology from Huron (South Dakota) College three years later. She later added a Michigan Certificate in Addictions Counseling and had further studies in Psychiatric care. Elaine taught first grade at Vermillion and Rapid City, South Dakota, and held substitute-teaching positions in Toledo, Ohio and St. Joseph, Michigan. She retired from Lakeland Medical Center, St. Joseph, in 2003 after six years as a counselor at Horizon Recovery Center and eleven years with the Psychiatric Center. Her strong and enduring faith served her well as she volunteered in Sunday school teaching at various churches where she and her family lived. She attended the First Church of God in St. Joseph, Michigan. Throughout her life, Elaine touched many people with her kind, caring and helpful nature. Her family will remember her with love for her patience, intelligence, good common sense and as a person who naturally practiced unconditional love better than anyone her family knew.Elaine is survived by her husband, Kent, whom she married on November 22, 1956; daughter Jan (Brian) Hollabaugh of Waterville, OH; son Jay Slocum and his companion Alicia Bush of Benton Harbor; grandchildren – Erica Leigh Slocum and Tyler Slocum of Kalamazoo; and special long-time friend June Malik. She was preceded in death by her parents and two brothers – Lyle and Orvis Skeide.