Larned – Eldred Earnestine (Sanders) Dipman, age 93, formerly of Larned, passed away May 30, 2016 at Mennonite Friendship Communities, South Hutchinson.
Eldred was born July 10, 1922 at home in Rodney, Arkansas to parents Ida Matilda Langston and James Elbert Sanders, the next to the youngest of seven children.
Eldred attended school up to the seventh grade at Hall’s Chapel, Arkansas. She attended eighth grade at Norfork, Arkansas, then went to live with her sister Inez and family in Kansas to help care for a newborn niece. Eldred continued her schooling at Radium and in 1938 she was a freshman at Rozel.
The Great Depression forced Eldred to quit school and go to work, providing childcare and housekeeping. When she took a job for George and Sadie Dipman, she met their son, John.
Eldred and John were wed in Wichita by a Justice of the Peace on February 7, 1942. They made their home on the family farm John’s grandparents had built after homesteading the ground in 1879. During the War years, hired help was hard to find, so Eldred drove the tractor and helped in the field. They lived on the farm 58 years, raising a family of four and welcoming their grandchildren and great grandchildren who loved to come to Grandma’s house for meals featuring her fried chicken.
Eldred loved being around people, whether it was a big family gathering or a cup of coffee with a neighbor. She was a member of the C.I.C. and Ash Valley Grange for over 55 years, a 4-H sewing and cooking project leader, member of United Methodist Church, and U.M.W., all of Larned.
John and Eldred loved to travel and took many Grange Trips and later bought a motorhome, vacationing in Arkansas, Colorado and Wyoming.
If it was your birthday and you were in Eldred Dipman’s family, you could count on one of her heavenly angel food cakes.
She made them for everyone’s birthday, whipping the eggs with a hand beater.
John and Eldred were married 65 years before he passed November 5, 2006.
Survivors include: son, David of Casper, Wyoming; daughters Dedria Ashworth and husband Robert, Arlington, KS and Cindy Wallace, Rawlins, Wyoming; daughter –in-law Vickie Dipman, Larned; grandchildren, Sandi Bates and husband Jeff, Candi Parker and husband Randy, all of Larned; Dari Hilbert and husband Tom, Seneca; Darin Ashworth and wife Emily, Haven; Shane Wallace, Moundridge, and Brett Wallace and wife Lindsey, Medicine Lodge; and great grandchildren, Keeli Howard and husband Josh, Larned; Kelbi Parker and Fianace Ian Harvey, Hays, Maurice, Abraham and Noah Hilbert, Seneca; Lorelei Ashworth, Haven and Ariana Wallace, Medicine Lodge.