Elizabeth Poole

Elizabeth (Atwood) Poole, 94, a lifelong resident of South Bend, Indiana, passed away on Sunday April 14, 2024 at her home.

Elizabeth, known as Betty to her family and friends, was born on August 13, 1929, in South Bend to Walter Atwood and Inez (Harding) Atwood. The youngest of five sisters, Betty grew up with an independent spirit that sustained her throughout her life. “We Harding girls are tough,” she’d say, but Betty was fun-loving too. As a child, Betty climbed to the top of the backyard cherry trees to pick the fruit her mother and sisters canned. She enjoyed riding with her dad in his NIPSCO truck as he did his rounds. And she roller-skated everywhere, a childhood pastime that she picked up again in her 50s. A bright child, she graduated from Riley High School at the age of 16. At age 17, she was working as a secretary at the Ridge Company, where she caught the eye of Russell Poole, a returning G.I. and student at Purdue University. The young pair were engaged February 1948 and married November 25, 1948. They resided in West Lafayette, where Betty helped Rusty finish his college education, supporting themselves with her secretarial skills. After Russ’s graduation in 1950, the pair and their newborn son returned to the South Bend-Mishawaka area, where they had three more children and shared nearly 60 years of marriage.

Like her mother before her, Betty was determined to master all skills needed to take care of her family. She was the first of her sisters to learn to drive an automobile, a challenge she tackled while pregnant with her third child. At the same time, she purchased a sewing machine with which she sewed shirts and skirts for her growing family. She knitted numerous sweaters and other garments throughout her life. With needle, thread, and yarn, Betty’s creativity blossomed. Her home was filled with beautiful counted cross stitch pictures, which she also gifted to family members. She learned to work with hardanger, a delicate Norwegian needlework, and created beautiful dresser scarves, doilies, and placemats.  Unable to do those fine work projects when in her 90's, she still knit hats for her grandkids and wanted to make a pair of mittens as she had done for her mother years before.

Betty’s greatest joy was her family: she is survived by her kids and their mates William, Susan (Brian), James (Laura), and Dan (Linda); her grandkids Matthew (Sherrie), Megan, Christopher, and Jordan; and her great grandkids Zackary and Kaylin. Betty was preceded in death by her parents, her husband, her daughter-in-law Connie Poole, and her siblings, Carol Kinzie, Bertha Garner, Jeanne Parfitt, Joy Weiss, and John Atwood.

In keeping with her wishes, a private graveside service will be held at Southlawn Cemetery in South Bend at a later date. Palmer Funeral Home-Guisinger Chapel is assisting the family.

Memorial contributions in Elizabeth’s name may be made to the American Heart Association or the Leukemia Society of America.

Online condolences to the family may be sent via the Palmer Funeral Homes website at www.palmerfuneralhomes.com.

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