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Service:
Lake Bank Cemetery on Monday, April 5th at 10 a.m.
Funeral home:
Fricke-Calvert-Schrader, Mount Pulaski
Obituary
Maxine Downing of Mount Pulaski
passed away on March 27, 2021 at Vonderlieth Living
Center.
She was born Maxine Rachel Campbell on May 18th,
1921 in a two-room unpainted frame house belonging
to her grandfather in Nicut, Braxton County WV. The
second of eleven children born to Carl Herschel and
Tina Mae Hall Campbell. She passed away peacefully
at Vonderlieth Living Center on March 27th, 2021.
Her family would like to thank the staff at
Vonderlieth Living Center for the wonderful care she
received there. She is survived by one sister, Dolly
Buckles of Mount Pulaski and two brothers, Stan
Campbell of Servia, WV and Eddie (Doris) Campbell of
Goleta, CA. a son Michael (Janice) Schultz of Cape
Fair, MO; daughter Denise Schultz of Harwich, MA, a
step-son Bill (Diana) Downing of Redmond, WA;
several grandchildren, great grandchildren, and
great-great grandchildren.
She married Charles Dean Schultz June 7th, 1939 in
Palmyra, MO. Dean passed away on December 11th,
1963. She married Eugene Downing of Mount Pulaski on
January 26th, 1967. Gene preceded her in death on
July 6th, 2007. Maxine was a lifelong member of the
Mount Pulaski Christian Church, Loyal Daughters,
Eastern Star, American Legion Auxiliary, founding
member of the Mount Pulaski Historical Society, past
president and district department chairman of the
Mount Pulaski Women’s Club. She loved reading and
music. Her soprano voice stood out in the church
choir. She loved to garden in the summer and
complete her handmade quilts in the winter.
Determined to continue her education, she left her
rural West Virginia home at 14 to attend high school
as the closest high school was 15 miles away. Maxine
stayed with one of her teachers during this time and
kept house to earn her room and board. Then in the
summer of 1938 her aunt thought traveling to
Illinois with her aunt’s brother (Dr. Dennison) and
his brother-in-law (John Tendick) would be a nice
trip. No interstates, and all two-lane roads made
for a very long trip. Once she got to Illinois, she
decided this was where she wanted to stay. No family
to speak of, but she knew how to cook and maintain a
household. |
Dr. Dennison lived in Lake Fork which
made for quite a distance to get to Mount Pulaski to
attend high school. Wanting to be closer to the high
school, and working with the high school principal,
Lucy Jane Ellis Whitaker asked her to come stay with
her and her husband. Maxine paid her own way by
doing the household chores.
After Dean passed away Maxine took
over running the drug store (Dean’s Sundries). While
Dean was alive, she would help out at the drug store
while he was eating lunch or otherwise busy, but as
to the inventories, profits, paying vendors-all of
this was unknown to her. With two kids to raise, she
took this on and succeeded in making the store
provide for her and her family of two (Mike 16 &
Denise 13).
All those who knew Maxine know she
was a strong-willed lady who was never afraid of
work. She learned to manage a household, sew, work
in a café as a waitress, and run a retail store on
her own. Whatever it would take to provide for her
and/or her family she would learn or already have
experience in doing.
While married to Gene, she got to see a great deal
of the world outside of her West Virginia and
Illinois comfort zones. She enjoyed the travel and
was able to make new friends and acquaintances
anywhere. Her time was filled with volunteer work at
the Christian Church, and Vonderlieth Living Center
otherwise any “idle” time was spent in the garden or
quilting. She loved books, any book as she was a
voracious reader.
Graveside services will be held at Lake Bank
Cemetery on Monday, April 5th at 10 a.m.
In lieu of flowers, donations in Maxine’s honor can
be made to the Mount Pulaski Christian Church, Logan
County Foodbank or the Mount Pulaski American
Legion.
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Maxine
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