Claribel Elaine Mayo
Elaine Mayo, 85, died Jan. 27, 2003, at Newton.
Born Sept. 27, 1917, in St. Paul, Minn., she was the daughter of the Rev. Ernest and Carla Groenig of Sun City, Ariz.
Elaine attended public schools in southern Minnesota, graduating from Worthington, Minn., High School in 1935. She graduated from Mankato State Teachers College, Mankato, Minn., in 1942 with degrees in elementary education and instrumental music with violin as her primary instrument. She then taught in elementary schools at Danube and Springfield, Minn., Costa Mesa, Calif., Tempe, Ariz., and St. Mary's School in Flagstaff, Ariz.
She enjoyed violin and played in the Flagstaff Symphony Orchestra for several years during the 1970s. There she joined her daughter, Susan, a cellist in that orchestra at that time.
Religion played a large role in Elaine's life, following the lead of her father who was a prominent Methodist minister in Southern Minnesota. She invariably participated in church activities in communities where she lived including the Flagstaff Federated Church of Flagstaff, Ariz., where she was a member for more than 20 years.
Survivors include two brothers, David of Spokane, Wash., and Robert of Phoenix, Ariz.; two daughters, Linda Peterson of Kansas City, Mo., and Susan Mayo of Peabody; a son, Richard of Portland, Ore.; five grandchildren; her beloved dog George; and her ex-husband, Dwight Mayo, of Flagstaff, Ariz. to whom she was married from 1943 to 1982.
A memorial service will be held at 4 p.m. Sunday at First Unitarian Church, Wichita.
A memorial fund has been established with the Alzheimer Association.
