Elizabeth Metcalf

The sun set on the lovely colors of the life of Elizabeth Metcalf, March 10, 1981. Her passing marked the end of a generation which included 14 children. Elizabeth Teckla Koch was born March 1, 1894, on the family farm southeast of Beloit, Kansas, on the Solomon River. She was the middle daughter of nine who survived to adulthood, born to Anna Marie Bachtle and Daniel Koch. Early day settlers in the Beloit area, the family was well known as a hard working, fun loving Christian family. Their home was saddened by the loss of five infants: Caroline, Friedrick, John, Theodore and a stillborn twin boy. The sisters Regina (later Hodler), Marie (Funk), Hilda (Vetter), Edna (Birch), Elizabeth, Clara (Wehl), Esther (Berneking), Florence (Stehley), and Gertrude (Markham), grew to womanhood maintaining an unusual closeness. Elizabeth attended the Beloit City schools.
On her 16th birthday the family moved into Beloit where her father had bought his own grocery store. Elizabeth graduated from Beloit High School with her Normal Training Certificate in 1911. She began teaching the next term at Saltville Rural School at the age of 17, eight months before she could legally sign a contract. She also taught in East Asher, Glendale, and Solomon Rapids and boarded in country homes during the next six years. Her work and the friends she made during these years were a treasured part of her life. Throughout her life she maintained a talent for finding things that would interest a child. She loved children and they sensed this and returned her feeling. A mother might be surprised to find her very shy toddler nestling contentedly on Elizabeth's lap, chattering away on first meeting.
On July 18, 1917, Elizabeth was married to Robert L. Metcalf at the Beloit Lutheran Parsonage. The first few days of their marriage were spent at Camp Funston near present Ft. Riley where young men had been called to be classified in the draft for World War I. Bob was lucky enough to be classified so that he could continue farming. After a lengthy honeymoon, the young couple returned to the large stone house a mile northwest of Solomon Rapids where Bob had been raised. They were to remain here for 54 years. Elizabeth's life was typical of a farm wife, working with garden produce, chickens and making butter. Her yard became a garden of flowers as the years passed. When her sister Marie died, Elizabeth took her children Gene and Allene into her home until their father could make adjustments. The Metcalf home remained a second home for these young people the rest of their lives.
Bob and Elizabeth were blessed with a daughter, Marianne, who shared their home and remained a steadfast and loving companion, caring for them in their last years. After the death of her husband in March, 1972, Elizabeth moved with Marianne to their home at 312 West Main in Beloit. They remained there until Elizabeth's final illness required professional care a few months before her death. Elizabeth was one of those rare souls who look for and find a lot of good and very little bad in people. She had a talent for bringing out the best in an individual. Her enthusiastic, "You're doing a good job," was a corsage that made life fragrant for days. She accepted the manner in which other people chose to live their lives with loving graciousness and with little censure. She had a rare talent for letting go of the past, living today with happiness and looking forward to tomorrow. Elizabeth was blessed with lovely red hair that faded through still lovely colors to white. She wore it in a becoming braided coil regally perched on the crown of her head. Her speaking voice was distinctive with a slightly husky vitality and musical overtones which she used effectively to tease you to death, joke with you, or sympathize and cheer you immensely. There was no one who provided better company than Elizabeth and she enjoyed a unique closeness with her husband and daughter, her sisters and their children and grandchildren. Speaking of Elizabeth and two of her sisters, then also living, a young niece explained several years ago that she had returned to Beloit to spend what might be considered an unusual amount of time because, as she put it, "There are people here I care a great deal about and I want to be with them while they are still here to enjoy."
Elizabeth was a lifelong and active member of the Lutheran Church and its organization. In earlier days she served on the Solomon Rapids School Board and was a township committeewoman for some time. She was a member of Lutheran Church Women, F-K, Sunflower, Sorosis, and Alpha Clubs as well as the Beloit Senior Citizens organization. She also enjoyed several card clubs and though past 80 years old, her friends described her as a "sharp player." She is survived by her daughter, Marianne; a sister-in-law, Mrs. Nellie Gilbert and her husband Forrest, of Belleville; and a host of nieces and nephews. Pastor Robert L. Albin conducted funeral services at the Zion Lutheran Church on Friday, March 13, at 10:30 a.m. The casket bearers were Wayne and Wybern Berneking, Rex Hodler, Dean Thompson, Kenny and Sid Vetter. Interment was made in the Elmwood Cemetery, Beloit.

*Elizabeth's obituary was written by Pat Williams who, with her husband David, moved into the Metcalf farm home when the Metcalfs moved to Beloit