Obituary of Elsie Toone

Elsie Anna Toone, age 109 of Ottawa and formerly of Riley, passed away on Monday, July 9, 2018 at the Wellsville Retirement Community.

She was born on October 2, 1908 at Riley, the daughter of Henry and Eugenie (Wieland) Diskau.  She had lived most of her life on the family farm that had been homesteaded in Riley County in 1880 and had been in the Diskau name for more than 130 years.

She attended Prairie Meadow one-room school and was a Riley High School graduate in 1925.  While in high school she enjoyed participating in Glee Club and Chorus.  During World War II she lived in Wichita and worked as a waitress in restaurants there.  She later worked at Hallmark in Topeka.  Later she and her sister, Dora, owned a fabric store in Manhattan.  Her last years on the farm found her back on the farm caring for her aging parents and later her brother until his death in 2002.  In the fall of 2011 she moved to Ottawa to Vintage Park to be closer to family.  In 2017 she moved to Wellsville Retirement Community Village in Wellsville.

She was a member of St. Luke’s Lutheran Church in Manhattan and had been a very active member of the Ladies Mission Groups in that church when she was able.  She had enjoyed attending Trinity United Methodist Church in Ottawa in later years as she was able.

She was preceded in death by four sisters, Lena Diskau, Frieda Fanning, Dora McBane and Bertha Sylvester; one brother, Ernest Diskau and a nephew, Richard Fanning.

She is survived by her nieces and nephews, Russ Sylvester (Sandy), Janice Chapman (Wayne), Clyde Sylvester (Debra) and Losa Fanning and numerous great and great-great nieces and nephews all of whom loved her and will miss her very much.  She also had several caretakers through the years who she cared for and appreciated very much.

Funeral services will be held at 10:00 a.m. Friday, July 13, 2018 at the Anderes-Pfeifley Funeral Home with Rev. D. Erich Schwartz officiating.  Burial will be in the Riley Cemetery.

A memorial may be made to the St. Luke’s Lutheran Church and left in care of the Anderes-Pfeifley Funeral Home.