DOWNS, Elyn H. Downs

        Elyn H. Downs, 86 Elyn H. Downs, 86, died at 9:07 p.m. Friday, Dec. 30, 2005 at Christian Care Retirement Community.
        Born in Rush Springs, Okla. on May 6, 1919 to Joe and Talitha (Shirley) Howell, she married Eldon W. Downs in Madison, Wisc. on Feb. 14, 1957 he died March 10, 1995. A 1937 graduate of Jennings High School, she attended the Oklahoma College for Women.
        A homemaker, she followed her late husbands career as an officer in the U.S. Air Force, which took her to live in a number of cities and foreign countries. She has been a resident of Bluffton since Sept., 2003. She was also active in her church and music activities, serving as a church choir director and music teacher. She was a former member of the First Baptist Church in Buffalo, Okla. and a current member of Council Road Baptist Church in Oklahoma City. She also served as an E.M.T. and an editorial writer for the Harper County Journal in Buffalo, Okla. Survivors include four children: Denise Downs of Bluffton, DeAnne Mitchum of Oklahoma City, Danielle Donaldson of Fairmount, Okla., and DeLys Wapaha of Ruidoso, N.M. a sister, Ida Chapman of Olympia, Wash. nine grandchildren and seven great grandchildren.
        She was preceded in death by four brothers and two sisters. Services will be held at 11 a.m. Wednesday at the First Baptist Church in Buffalo, Okla. Burial will be in the High Point Cemetery. There will be no viewing or calling hours. Preferred memorials are to Family Hospice of Northeast Indiana or Christian Care Retirement Community. Arrangements are being handled by Thoma/Rich, Hewitt & Chaney Funeral Home, Bluffton."