Eatha Sommer of Crawfordsville died Sunday, Dec. 10, 2023, at age 86, at Franciscan Health Crawfordsville, of congestive heart failure and COVID-19.
A resident of Crawfordsville since 1972, Eatha had lived at Wellbrooke of Crawfordsville since September 2023.
Eatha passed away only a few days after marking the 59th anniversary of her marriage to Charles Sommer, who survives her.
Born Jan. 15, 1937, at Lansdale, Pennsylvania, Eatha Lucille Alderfer was the youngest of the five children of Frank and Barbara (Crouthamel) Alderfer, all of whom predeceased her.
Eatha was a 1954 graduate of Lansdale High School and became a Registered Nurse after graduating in 1957 from the Montgomery School of Nursing in Norristown, Pennsylvania. As a young nurse, Eatha supported her travels to more than a dozen states by working as a nurse for a few months at a time as she went. While serving as a nurse at Orange Memorial Hospital in Orlando, Florida, she met Chuck Sommer, then a USAF officer stationed at Orlando Air Force Base. They married in Orlando on Dec. 5, 1964, at Reformation Chapel, First Presbyterian Church.
After two years of itinerant newlywed military life, Eatha transitioned to another role in which she excelled – motherhood. Shortly after the birth of her son Mike in 1967, Eatha and her new family moved to Greenville, Mississippi. Her son Roger was born there in 1971, shortly before the family moved back to Crawfordsville in 1972, where she would thrive for decades as a mother and homemaker, valiantly striving throughout to provide some measure of feminine balance to her otherwise hopelessly male household. Another son, Phillip, died in infancy in 1975 as a result of a rare congenital condition.
In addition to homemaking with her own Pennsylvania Dutch flair, Eatha was actively involved in her children’s activities. She accompanied both of her children’s sixth grade classes on their trips overnight to McCormick’s Creek State Park. She served a term as board member of the Sugar Creek Swim Club.
She reinvigorated her nursing career when her boys became school-aged. In the late 1970s and early 1980s, she contracted with Life Data to perform mobile physical exams of life insurance applicants. This was an activity she could schedule while her children were in school or at home with Chuck. She traveled throughout Montgomery County to meet her clients.
After her children left home she joined American Medical International as an industrial nurse at RR Donnelley in Crawfordsville. She retired from St. Clare Hospital in June 2003. She was a member of The Art League of Montgomery County Department H.
Eatha was preceded in death by her parents; siblings, Ralph, Chester, Evelyn Feryl and Genevieve Batten; and son Phillip.
She is survived by her devoted husband Chuck; her grateful sons, Michael (Federica) of Dublin, Ohio and Roger (Lori Del Negro) of North Brunswick
Township, New Jersey; four admiring grandchildren, Cameron, Mia, Malcolm and Erich; and two tail-wagging grand-dogs. She loved all of them and was fiercely proud to be their wife/mother/grandmother, as the case may be.
Friends and relatives are invited to attend her burial at Oak Hill Cemetery North (Oak Hill Road) in Crawfordsville at 12:30 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 21. The family is also planning a memorial service to be held at First United Methodist Church of Crawfordsville on Monday, Jan. 15, 2024, her 87th birthday, at a time to be determined.
In lieu of flowers, those wishing to contribute to her memory are encouraged to direct their gift to Crawfordsville Masonic Temple Foundation Inc., P.O. Box 713, Crawfordsville, IN 47933. The foundation is a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organization that supports the preservation, restoration and maintenance of the Masonic Cornerstone Grand Hall Event Center, a historically significant structure in downtown Crawfordsville that is enjoying a renaissance after decades of underinvestment. For more information, see also https://themasoniccornerstone.com/restoration-project.
Hunt & Son Funeral Home is assisting the family.
Condolences and memories may be shared at www.huntandson.com.
