Eva Millikan

Funeral services for Eva Lou Millikan who died Friday June 12, 2009 will be held at First Baptist Church Wednesday, June 17, 2009, 2:00 PM with Pastor Fred Dyer officiating. Interment will follow in the Wyoming Memorial Garden Cemetery. The family will receive friends at the church from 1:00 PM until service time.
Mrs. Millikan was born May 15, 1911 near Cashion, Oklahoma to John and Josephine Simmons. She moved with her family to Wyoming in 1916 where her parents homesteaded twenty miles north of Torrington. She attended elementary grades at Happy Hollow, a rural school near her home. However, until that school was established, she attended primary grades in Oklahoma and Torrington, Wyoming. She graduated valedictorian of her class, from Torrington High School in 1929.
On Dec. 28, 1931 she married Eldoras L. Millikan and they farmed/ranched north of Torrington for a number of years. During that time Eva Lou taught in several rural schools near their home. They later lived in Hawk Springs and Torrington before moving to Casper in 1953 where they spent the remainder of their lives. Mr. Millikan died in June, 1982.
Mrs. Millikan especially enjoyed teaching children in the primary grades. However during the forty five years she was in her profession, she taught all grades including junior high and senior high classes. At one time she was a teaching principal in a consolidated school. Her first position in Casper was teaching first grade in Grant School where she worked with a fine educator, Miss Maude Long who was the principal of Grant School. Mrs. Millikan taught there for five years. In 1958 she accepted a position in the Casper school system as coordinator for kindergarten and first grade. She held that position for eighteen years and eventually became coordinator for kindergarten, 1st, 2nd and 3rd grades in Natrona County School District # 1. She retired in 1976.
Mrs. Millikan earned her B.A. and Masters degrees in education at the University of Wyoming and also did graduate work at the University of Colorado.
She was an active member of the First Baptist church. She had been a member of Kappa Delta Pi, the NEA, WEA, the Casper Education Association, Childhood Education Association, International Reading Association and The Delta Kappa Gamma Society International.
Mrs. Millikan is survived by five nieces and their families: JoAnn Wheeler of Cascade, Idaho, Lynne Rhodes of Hattiesburg, Mississippi, Kathy Smith of Buffalo, Wyoming, Linda Morey of Cheyenne, Wyoming and Jonaline Craig of Bixby, Oklahoma.
In addition to her husband, she was preceded in death by her parents, three brothers and three sisters.