- Date Of Birth: August 31, 1922
- Date Of Death: August 16, 2016
- State: Indiana
Lois Hunter Burkhart
Lifelong resident of Beech Grove, Lois Burkhart passed on August 16, 2016.
She was born August 31,1922 to the late Clarence and Marie Hunter. She
attended Beech Grove High School and became the head of the household at
nineteen after her father, who worked many years at the Beech Grove
Railroad Shops, died at 45. During WW II she worked at Allison. She was
also employed by Western Electric but spent the majority of her working years
at Eli Lilly. She was a member of the Southside Art League and left a legacy
of over 80 watercolor paintings many depicting rural landscapes and scenes
from her travels in the United States, Canada, England, Europe, Australia and
New Zealand.
She spent the best years of her life camping with her family. Some of her
favorite places were Agate Beach in Northern California and Bryce Canyon in
Utah. The family remembers evenings in campsites where she might be
baking a lopsided birthday cake on a primitive stove. She was a wicked
Skipbo player who might throw cards across the table to display her
in an Indian blanket, the ensemble complete with an eagle feather sticking out
of her headband.
time. In fact, she hunted rocks until the very end of her life even while in a
health facility. She found her way to gravel areas where she found a number
of fossils which she displayed in her room. Even in her last hospital stay, she
looked out the ground floor window to see a bed of gravel in which she spied
rocks that she would like to collect. She died with a tan from her time in the
sun.
She kept detailed diaries of her travels. She noted minute details such as the
cost of gas or of a camping space. She traveled with an Argus C-3 camera
taking copious numbers of pictures enough to fill a whole closet over time.
The family spent many a winter’s evening sitting in her living room watching
her beautiful slides and vicariously traveling to those sites again. Those
meetings might include a meal in which she served her inspirational
homemade noodles. She was an experienced traveler and an avid homebody
who never wanted to leave home and never wanted to return.
Surviving are daughter Marilyn Rogers Brunoehler of Indianapolis and son
David Wayne Burkhart (Lorrie)of Bloomington, In., grandchildren, Brian
Rogers of Mays, In., Aaron Rogers, Amy Burkhart Barrett, Casey Burkhart
Kellar, and Cody Burkhart all of Bloomington, In. Five great grandchildren
include Charles Wayne Barrett, Grant, Emilee, Kara and Josh Rogers. She
was preceded in death by her husband Wayne Burkhart, brother Howard
Hunter and sister Lila Hunter Hopkins.
