Obituary
Elsie Viola Hendrick
1911-2002
Mrs. Gilbert Hendrick, Elsie Viola Wittsell, passed away August 12, 2002 in
Provo, Utah, where she has been living the past 7 years with her brother, Larry Wittsell, and his family. For the past 5 months she has been in the Crestview Care Center following a stroke in March. She was 91 years old.
Her funeral will be at the First Baptist Church of Wakita on Saturday, August 17,
2002 at 10:30 a.m. with Rev. Bobby Smith presiding. Interment will take place at the
Fairview Cemetery where Viola will be buried beside her husband, Gilbert. The
Williams Funeral Home will provide the appropriate services.
Elsie Viola Wittsell was born May 15, 1911d in Savonburg, Kansas, the first of 9 children born to John Edward Wittsell and Edna Iona Johnson. She attended a couple of country schools then finished elementary school and started high school at Savonburg where she was a Glee Club singer.
When she got old enough to work she quit school and worked for some time doing housework then eventually started working in the laundry of the hospital in
Chanute, Kansas. She married Emory Kelsey whom she later divorced. She continued her work in Chanute until January 1, 1950 when she married Gilbert Hendrick of
Manchester, OK. The Hendricks lived on the old Hendrick Homestead west of
Manchester for many years until he developed health problems and they bought an apartment at the Community Health Center in Wakita. Gilbert died in 1987.
Viola never had any children so she spent much of her spare time in Church work and other types of community service. She and Gilbert attended the Methodist Church at
Manchester until they moved to Wakita. She was the Church Secretary and belonged to the Ladies’ UMV Society. She helped with a lot of funeral dinners and other service projects. She and Gilbert were active in the Cherryvale Grange.
When Gilbert developed diabetes Viola learned how to cook the special foods he needed and made sure he ate like he was supposed to. Gilbert was sick for along time and she was very faithful in caring for him.
On the farm Viola maintained a vegetable garden and grew a lot of flowers. She tended chickens and helped with the milk cows. She maintained a croquet field behind the house and enjoyed playing with the various nieces and nephews and others who came to visit.
She loved to sew and was quite good at it. More than once she took prizes for her entries in local sewing shows. She was a prolific letter writer as members of her family and her friends will attest. As a young girl she used to write letters for older people in the community whose hands shook or had other problems.
Viola and Gilbert moved to Wakita in 1982. She became an active volunteer at the Community Health Center. She sewed a lot of aprons and did mending for patients in addition to other services including feeding them and shopping for them. She was the auxiliary secretary twice, served on many committees and helped with birthday and bingo parties.
She joined the First Baptist Church of Wakita in February 1987. She was a member of the Senior Adult Sunday School Class. She helped with the Vacation Bible

School and was active in the Women’s Missionary Union where she served as Secretary and Treasurer for several years. She also taught some of the WMU lessons and participated in all their projects and programs.
She was voted “Woman of the Year” in 1984 by the Alpha Gamma Preceptor of
Beta Sigma Phi, a women’s sorority. She was well-known for her smile and love for people.
In 1995 she felt like she didn’t want to live alone anymore so she accepted the offer to move to Provo, Utah and live with her brother, Larry Wittsell, and his wife, Ruth.
She joined the First Baptist Church in Provo and was as active and supportive as she was able. She was a long time supporter of the Bible of the Month and Back to the Bible programs as well as a number of other charities.
Viola is survived by three sisters and two brothers as well as numerous nieces and nephews. Her family wishes to offer their sincere thanks to all her friends and relatives who sent her so many nice cards and letters even after she was no longer able to reply.
She was preceded in death by her parents; husband, Gilbert, and a brother, Paul.
In lieu of flowers, memorials are to go to the Wakita Baptist Church.
Published in The Wakita Herald, weekly newspaper, on Thursday, August 15, 2002.
Much of the same text was published in the Enid News & Eagle, daily newspaper, on the same date. In this paper there was one additional paragraph as follows:
“Surviving are three sisters, Delia Gervais of Placerville, Calif., Ruby Riley of
Parks, Ark., and Evaline Eissler of Liberty, Mo.: and two brothers, Larry Wittsell of
Provo, and Harold Wittsell of Elizabeth City, N.C.”