Effie Chaney Erkman

</element><element id="paragraph-1" type="body"><![CDATA[Effie Chaney Erkman, 86, Lima, Ohio, died 8:47 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 21, 2010, at The Ridge at Shawnee, Lima, Ohio.

Services will be held 7 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 27, 2010, at Grace Baptist Church with Pastor Matthew Oliver officiating. Burial of the cremated remains will be in Enfield Cemetery, Enfield, at a later date. Arrangements are in the charge of Chiles-Laman Funeral Homes, Lima, Ohio.

She was born March 9, 1923, in Carrier Mills to Roy and Margeah Russell Chaney. On Aug. 27, 1944, she married John O. Erkman, who preceded her in death on Oct. 25, 2008.

She was a retired teacher from Spalding Elementary School in Richland, Wash. She received her master's degree in education from Southern Illinois University.

She was a member of the American Association of University Women. She had raised her family in Palo Alto, Calif. and Silver Springs, Md. She enjoyed retirement in Sarasota, Fla.; walking around the lake, watching the swans, reading and ceramics class were her favorite activities.

In 2002, she moved to Burton's Ridge Assisted Living (now The Ridge at Shawnee) to be nearer to family. Little did we know that the caring, professional staff there would become her second family, and ultimately would provide her with so much compassion and dignity at the end of her life.

She is survived by two daughters, Jan Erkman of Martinsburg, W.Va. and Esther (Mark) Wangler of Lima, Ohio; two grandsons, Dylan VanDyne and Steven VanDyne, both of Lima, Ohio; and two stepgrandsons, Nathan (Christine) Wangler of Cincinnati, Ohio and Aaron Wangler of New York, N.Y.

In addition to her husband, she was preceded in death by a brother, Benjamin Chaney; and a sister, Nona Bryant.

Memorial contributions may be made to Gideon's.