Mildred Eull
June 29, 1928 — April 28, 2017
Mildred Fern Eull, age 88 years of Niles, Michigan died peacefully at 1:31 a.m. on Friday, April 28, 2017 with her children gathered around her bedside at West Woods of Niles. They are grateful for the compassionate care provided to their mother by their new friends on the staff at West Woods.
Fern was born on June 29, 1928 in Fullerton, North Dakota to Walter Christ and Vera Gladys (Sanders) Rathe. She was graduated from high school in North Dakota, and has lived in Niles since 1959, coming from Grand Rapids, Minnesota. She served as the Berrien County Clerk’s Deputy to the – then new- South County Building, an office from which she retired in 1996
She was a founding member of the former Trinity United Methodist Church, and was currently a member of the Wesley United Methodist Church. In retirement, she served as an election poll worker. She enjoyed practicing the homemaker arts including needlework and flower gardening, but really excelled at baking, making a wide variety of pies, cakes, and other pastries; and a fresh loaf of homemade bread every day.
On January 29, 1946 in Jamestown, North Dakota she married Gerald Eugene Eull with whom she celebrated the forty-first anniversary of their wedding prior to his death on May 29, 1987. She was also preceded in death by her parents, and by one brother and four sisters.
Surviving family includes her children, Sandra (& Mike) Hess, Terry (& Carol) Eull, Deborah Eull, and Christopher Ray Eull, all of Niles, and Jerry Jay Eull of Las Vegas, Nevada; grandchildren, Ryan (& Liz) Eull, Travis (& Kayla) Eull, Dana (& Jim) Loveall, Danny (& Mary) Balos, Derrick (& Staci) Balos, Ashlea Eull, Jordan Eull, Jeffrey Eull, Sharrla (& Craig) Rogers-Eaton, Chris (& Sarah) Hess, and Corey (& Teresa) Hess; great-grandchildren, Seth (& Brandy) Casey, Karissa Loveall, Austin Balos, Riley Balos, Kyla Eull, Damon Bell, Owen Eaton, Finley Eull, Sawyer Eull, Nolan Eull, Bo Balos, Rose Hess, Fiona Hess, Simone Hess, and Levi Hess; great-great-grandchildren, Braylon, Honor, Kadience, and Puller Casey; and Fern’s brother, Robert Rathe of Stanley, Virginia; and many nieces and nephews including a special nephew, Dennis VanMiddlesworth of Carmel, California.
The funeral service for Fern Eull will be at Noon on Tuesday, May 2, 2017 at the Halbritter-Wickens Funeral Home in Niles with the Rev. Jonathan Rose, Chaplain for Hospice at Home officiating. Committal will follow at Mission Hills.