Elna Ridgway

Elna Eileen (Evans) Ridgway, 97, died Sunday, May 21, 2017. Elna was born June 10, 1919, she was the fifth of seven children born to John Elmer and Gertrude June (Cardiff) Evans on a farm near Camargo, Oklahoma. When she was four, her family moved 500 miles to Baca County in south-east Colorado. After attending numerous schools during the worst dust bowl years, Elna graduated from Pritchett High School in May 1937.

She soon moved to Oberlin, Kansas to live with an older sister. There, she met and married Leo Ridgway on June 6, 1938 in Oberlin, where Leo was employed by Safeway. Their only child, Evan, was born in 1940. In 1941 the family moved to Atwood, Kansas where Leo owned and operated Ridgway Market until his untimely death from a heart attack in 1967, at age 54.

Reading, books, and learning were Elna’s passions. This love led to her work at the Atwood Public Library in the 1950’s. She became the Head Librarian in 1960 and spent the next twenty-nine years teaching and encouraging others to read, especially the children. Elna was a member of the Atwood Women’s Club and Eastern Star Radiant Chapter 229, where she was Worthy Matron in 1951. After Leo’s death, Elna continued to live in the family home until 2009, when she moved, due to declining health, to Leawood, Kansas to be near her family.

In her later years, her bright spirit and determined outlook saw her through difficult times. She finally succumbed and passed quietly to her Heavenly Reward on May 21, 2017, at the age of 97 years and 11 months.

Elna was preceded in death by her husband; parents; step-father; six siblings; five sibling’s spouses and a granddaughter-in-law.

She is survived by her son, Evan (Kay) Ridgway; three grandchildren and spouses; eight great grandchildren; five step great grandchildren; a sister-in-law and numerous nieces and nephews.

Funeral service will be at 10:00 a.m. Saturday, June 3, 2017 at the Atwood United Methodist Church. Visitation will be the hour prior to service, at the church. Interment will follow the service at the Oberlin Cemetery, Oberlin, Kansas. Memorials are suggested to the Atwood Public Library, in care of Baalmann Mortuary, PO Box 391, Colby, Kansas 67701. For information or condolences, visit www.baalmannmortuary.com.