Life story
May 13, 1924
Born in on May 13, 1924 to Julius & Marie Dieckow in Bartonville, Illinois.
Evelyn grew up with 3 brothers, James, Orville & Gerald and a half-sister, Erma.
January 1, 1941
She later married John Westrope and had a son Larry on Aug 6, 1941.
John served in the war and later returned home. Her husband was not the same after his return from the war and they later divorced.
August 1960
In August 1960 she married Roy Gardner.
December 5, 1961
They had a daughter, Susie Marie on December 5, 1961 and built a home in Bartonville, IL.
June 1, 1962
They soon after became grandparents when Larry & his wife, Christine had a son Terry Lee in June 1962, followed a couple years later by Eric Gene. Larry & family moved to California where he & Christine later divorced.
January 1, 1972
Larry & his current wife, Sandra had a son, Larry Gene Jr.
1976
Larry & wife have another son, John Raoul. Terry visited Grandma & Grandpa and Aunt Sue for the summer.
December 6, 1976
Susie, known as Sue, married Michael Peterson.
With Sue married they were now free to travel more and in March 1977 they took a long-awaited trip to the Holy Land, Greece and Rome.
June 2, 1977
On June 2, 1977 at 8:18 PM Roy & Evelyn recieved a new grandson Michael Andrew from Mike & Sue.
August 1, 1978
Sue & family moved to Woodward, OKlahoma where Mike worked in the oilfield for several years and they purchased a nice mobile home.
In 1979, Larry & family were tranferred from Ca to PA and visited OK in their cross-country trip.
November 1982
Visited Woodward, Oklahoma for the birth of first Granddaughter, Amanda Marie born Nov 28th
August 1984
Visited Oklahoma for birth of Granddaughter, Tiffany Dawn on August 9th, 1984
September 1986
Sue & family moved back to Illinois. Evelyn & Roy enjoyed some camping & fishing before winter set in with grandson Michael.
November 1, 1986
Larry & family visited for the Holidays from Pa. so most of the grandchildren were present (with exception of Terry and Eric)
After Larry & family returned to PA, he & his wife seperated and later divorced.
January 1, 1987
Roy suffered a massive stroke and spent about 4 months at Methodist recovering and rehabilitating.
Evelyn & Roy made daily trips to the mall to keep active for several years. They would walk the mall and visit with Roy's brothers Bill & Bob and froend Herb.
There were annual Gardner-sibling campouts at a niece's farn in Farmington and many camp-outs at a Hopedale campground. They kept busy and active.
December 1, 1989
Larry & new girlfriend Sandra visited for holidays with girlfriend's daughter Cathy.
They later married.
July 1991
Roy suffered an aortic anyurism and was rushed into surgery at Methodist. He did not survive the surgery.
November 1991
Oct/Nov 1991
Evelyn took a trip to Florida to get away. She returned in time for the holidays.
August 1995
Evelyn made a friend on one of her many Peoria Charter bus trips named Bob Morse. He may have had more in mind...but he remained only a friend and traveling companion to her.
September 1, 1997
Evelyn sold the home in Bartonville that she & Roy built in 1961. It became too much for her to maintain and was very lonely living there all alone with the memories.
She purchased a home on Edmar in Canton, IL to be near her daughter & son-in-law. Sue would take to shopping and to doctor appointments and Mike would help maintain the new house and do any necessary rennovations.
They took many local trips together with the grandkids....bus trips, trips to New Salem, Rockome Gardens, Dickson Mounds, etc.
May 1, 1999
Sue graduated from Western Illinois University with a BSW (Social Work) degree and began a new job as Director of Social Services at a nearby nursing facility. Sue & Mike bought a home in town not far from Evelyn's.
Evelyn suffered several bout with bleeding from the colon and was hospitalized several times.
September 12, 2002
Son-in-Law Mike comes down with West Nile Virus and is hospitalized at Methodist in ICU on a ventilator, beginning a 4-month bout of daily hospital visits for Sue. Evelyn accompanied her at least twice a week.
January 23, 2003
Mike returned home from the hospital, making it easier for Evelyn to visit. He would be re-hospitalized several times over the next year with two surgeries to remove parts of his colon over the spring/summer.
January 1, 2004
As Mike gradually regained his strength and bcame more mobile in his wheelchair he bagan to accomany Sue & Evelyn on Sat morning breakfast/shopping trips. This became a regular routine until Evelyn started to weaken and found walking more difficult. Alzheimer's was also gradually sneaking up on her....but at this point it was not an issue.
January 2005
Evelyn sold her home on Edmar and moved into a new house with Mike & Sue on 9th Ave in Woodward.
June 22, 2008
Evelyn suffered a massive stroke in her home and was discovered by Sue who was bringing her lunch. She was rushed to Graham hospital and transferred to Methodist in Peoria. She never fully regained consciousness and was sent home to her daughter's on July 3.
July 6, 2008
Evelyn passed away peacefully at her home on July 6, 2008 to the soothing music of her favorite Randy Travis CD. She was with her daughter and both of her grand-daughters.
