Wynelle Eason Hughes
1921-2011
"Let me live in a house by the side of the road and be a friend to man." So read the old family sampler Wynelle Hughes of LaPorte found in a closet and showed her daughter Friday, just before they left for lunch. Less than two hours later Nel experienced a major stroke, and early on Sunday, July 17, she died a peaceful death at the age of 90. Her daughter Ronda was with her throughout.
That quote from a Sam Walter Foss poem was perhaps Nel's unspoken motto. A dedicated teacher and devoted spouse, parent, and friend, she was active until the end, having attended church and gathered with friends just this past week.
Nel was the fourth of six children born to Alice Virginia Collins Eason and Wm. Payne Eason of Surrency, Ga. High School valedictorian at 17, Nel taught elementary school in rural Appling County, Ga., at 20. During WWII she worked in Washington, D.C. Just after the war, while working in Savannah, Ga., she met merchant marine Roland J. Hughes. Nine years later they were married in Fernandina Beach, Fla., where Nel was teaching high school. Nel and Rollie lived first in his hometown, Madison, Wis., then in Moline, Ill., rural LaPorte County, and New Carlisle, before making their home on Waverly Road in LaPorte in 1961.
Nel worked part-time in Rollie's business, County Plat & Directory, until 1965, when she took a position as a fifth grade teacher at Rolling Prairie Elementary School. In 1967, she moved to New Prairie High School, where she taught business education, sponsored the National Honor Society, and served as ISTA union representative. When she retired from NPHS in 1986, her students threw her a surprise party in Michigan City.
For many years after retiring, Nel volunteered as a tutor with the Literacy Coalition and helped to run the resale shop of her church. She also helped to care for her sisters when they became incapacitated by stroke.
Rollie, all of her siblings, and her best friend, Harriet Lehner, preceded her in death. She is survived by daughters Ronda Hughes (Joe Taschetta) of South Bend and Monte Main of Jacksonville, Fla.; granddaughter Ginger Main of Miami, Fla.; nieces and nephews and their families in south Georgia, and her daughters' extended families in Jacksonville, Los Angeles, and Northern Illinois.
Nel was a member of First Baptist Church of LaPorte, AAUW, Delta Kappa Gamma, Business Girls Club, and LaPorte County Democratic Women. She was a graduate of Georgia Teachers College (now Georgia Southern) and Indiana University. She enjoyed neighbors and friends, a good book, a good meal, mowing the lawn, and traveling with her husband, her sisters, her students and, in later years, her daughters. She had hopes of fishing, camping, and taking a train trip later this summer.
A memorial service for Wynelle Hughes will be held at 7 p.m., Thur., July 21, in the Hargrave Fellowship Center of First Baptist Church, LaPorte (Entrance on Jefferson Ave), with visiting time beginning at 6:30. Her ashes will be buried beside her husband's, at a graveside service later this year at Bethel UMC Cemetery, Appling County, Ga. Memorial gifts may be given to First Baptist of LaPorte, the food pantry of Broadway Christian Parish UMC in South Bend, Church World Service, or the LaPorte Literacy Coalition.
Cutler Funeral Home is handling local arrangements. Please sign the online register book at www.cutlerfuneral.com.