Elva Currence Dawson, 103, of Grand Island passed away on Saturday, September 23, 2017.
Celebration of Life services will be held at 11 a.m. on Thursday at All Faiths Funeral Home. Dan Naranjo will officiate. Burial will follow the service at Grand Island City Cemetery.
Elva was born on September 8, 1914 on a farm a mile from Nekoma, KS to Alcanzar Edwin and Pansy Leona (Wheat) Currence.
She is survived by her children, Carla “Coleen” Schurman of Hobe Sound, FL, Mary Lea Dawson Hall of Grand Island, Larry (Jill) Dawson of Arvada, Co; grandchildren, Carrie, Elizabeth, Alexander and Kenneth; three great-grandchildren; along with numerous extended family and friends.
Elva was preceded in death by her husband; parents and brother, Marion Currence; sister, Della Yanzuk.
She attended grade school in Nekoma, KS, for two years before moving to LaCrosse, KS, in 1922 and continued through the 8th grade. For the next three years she attended high school at Salida, CO, one year at Lava Hot Springs, ID and graduated in 1932. She then returned to Kansas to attend Ft Hays Kansas State University and earned her Bachelors of Science Degree in Home Economics with a minor in Math. In 1951, she earned her Master’s in Institutional Management.
Elva interned at Richards Treat in Minneapolis for the summer. She then worked at the dormitories on a fellowship for four years at University of Texas at Austin.
With her education, Elva worked in food service at Lufkin Texas High School, John Sealy Hospital in Galveston, Camp Phillips Army Base, University of Texas in Austin, and Kansas State University in Manhattan over the next several years.
On June 3, 1951, Elva was united in marriage to Leonard F. Dawson at the Eisenhower Chapel on the college campus in Manhattan. Following their marriage, they moved to Grand Island, where Elva taught student nurses at St. Francis for two years and was the Dietician for the Lutheran Hospital for 17 years until her retirement in 1976.
Elva was a devoted member of Trinity United Methodist Church and active in their church circle. She was also a member of Home Economics Club, “Knitwit’ Knitters Club, and Always Busy Extension Club. Elva was an accomplished artist and china painter.