Ethel V Boostrom

Ethel Boostrom’s heavenly home was prepared for her and she went to meet her Heavenly Father on 26 October, 2018.

Waiting for her there were her husband, Dayton Boostrom, who passed away August 28, 2000.  Also waiting for her were her parents, Roe and Edith Burrill, and her sister and brother-in-law, Virginia and Merle Moffitt.  All 6 shared the same wedding anniversary, 1 September.  She is survived by 2 brothers, Roy Burrill of Happy Valley, OR, and Dwight Burrill (Shirley) of Bonita Springs, FL, a daughter, Sue (Wayne) Ault of Monmouth, IL another daughter, Deborah (Roderick) Fuess of Schaumburg, IL and a son, Rusty (Joy) Boostrom of  Monmouth, IL.  Ethel is also survived by 4 grandchildren, Amy (Tom)Glenn of Monmouth, April (Bryan)Young of Monmouth, Chris(Ron)Weber of Schaumburg and Cameron (Jodanna)Fuess of Marquette, MI.  Ethel also took great pleasure in her 8 great grandchildren, and 2 great-great grandchildren.  Ethel was born June 19, 1921 in rural Alexis.  After graduating from Viola High School, she attended Monmouth College.  She married Dayton and they lived in Monmouth where Sue was born.  After Dayton was called into the Air Corps, Ethel and baby Sue followed from camp to camp for the year before he went overseas.  Ethel and Sue’s travels were published in a short story that Ethel wrote entitled, “10,000 Miles with a Baby”.   The 2 years Dayton was in England, he served as a Crew Chief, keeping the B 24 bombers flying.  During that time, Ethel served as one of the original “Rosie the Riveters” a group of women back home in the US who took over the jobs of building aircraft vacated when the men joined up and went overseas.  At the John Deere air craft section in the Quad Cities, Ethel worked at riveting wing flaps for the same B24’s that Dayton kept flying in England.  After Dayton’s return post WWII, they lived in Monmouth for a few years, had 2 more children, Debby and Rusty and then farmed for 10 years near Gerlaw and Coldbrook.  They then bought a farm and built a house on the south end of Lake Warren.

After the children were in school, Ethel worked at Meling’s Motel, Formfit, Secretary at Warren School and retired in 1983 after 15 years as Deputy County Clerk in the Warren County Clerk’s Office.  After retirement she became a Family Historian and Genealogist, tracing 7 families, 2 of which she traced back to Revolutionary times.

As the Family Historian, she organized photos and mementos into loose leaf notebooks.  She started her family history with 3 notebooks and ended with 44.  Her historical searches were augmented at the age of 80 when she learned to use a computer.  After that, she had several short accounts of her war-time experiences published in the “Beach Bell Echo”, a magazine printed by the 446th bomb group.  She also enjoyed writing poetry.   Her family is very blessed to have an organized, annotated, concise library of stories and information regarding their history and ancestors due to Ethel’s post retirement passion.

Memorial Services will be at 1 pm, Saturday, November 10, 2018 at McGuire & Davies Funeral Home and Crematory, Monmouth.  Interment will be in McPherren Cemetery.  In lieu of flowers, Memorials can be made to HEIFER International or the Galesburg OSF Hospice.