Foundation receives $400k from Chadron native

 Funkhouser died March 21, 2011, at her home in Loveland, Colo. She was 98.

Connie Rasmussen, executive director of the Chadron State Foundation, said Funkhouser’s gift will add to the CSC general scholarship fund, consequently helping generations of future students.

Although she had not lived in Chadron for decades, she enjoyed occasional trips to the community and kept it in her heart.

“Chadron is a lovely little town. I still have a great fondness for it,” Funkhouser said in a 2007 interview.

Funkhouser was born in Chadron to Earl and Tillie Schaeffer in 1912 and was raised at 704 Main Street. She graduated from Chadron Prep in 1930. She attended what was then Nebraska State Normal School, now Chadron State College, for two years before teaching two years at Cody, Neb. She then returned to college and graduated in 1936. She majored in commerce, now known as business, and had minors in history and physical education.

After graduating from college, she taught school in Decatur, Ill., for several years. While there, she met her husband, Scott Funkhouser, a native of that area who also was a teacher. They were married in 1940.

During World War II, Scott served in the Navy three years. Helen spent some time in New York while Scott was stationed on Staten Island, but when he was placed on a ship and went to sea, she returned to Chadron to live with her parents.

Following the war, the Funkhousers returned to Illinois, where he became the superintendent of schools at Wapella. They moved to Loveland after he retired. He died in August 1973.

“Helen was a delightful lady and loved Chadron and Chadron State,” Rasmussen said. “She was a wealth of information about the community and the college and had a wonderful sense of humor. We will miss her.”