Eda Bever

(From Carson-Wall Funeral Home)

Eda (Hashagen) Bever died peacefully March 3rd, one week shy of her 102nd birthday.

The daughter of Ben and Hilda (Anderson) Hashagen, Eda was born March 10, 1917 on the same farm near Farlington that would be her home for the greater part of a century. Her passion for education expressed itself early. She walked or rode a horse to a local one-room school where she managed to complete two grades in one term. Despite her father’s reservations and the necessity to live away from the farm, Eda was determined to enroll in Girard HS, which she did at age 12. She had to work to pay her $5 rent, first as domestic help and then by milking her host family’s cow (which her father had provided to help defray costs). 

Graduating at 16, Eda embarked on a long teaching career that began in a one-room school near Farlington and included a year in both western Kansas (1936), where she experienced the full force of the Dust Bowl, and then in Treece (1937), teaching the children of area miners. Eda earned a bachelor’s degree at Kansas State Teachers College in Pittsburg in 1971 (at age 54), the same year her daughter finished HS. She then spent 11 years teaching middle school in St. Paul and students with learning disabilities in Girard before retiring in 1982.

Eda married Darrel Bever of Farlington in a 1942 ceremony with their long-time card-playing adversaries Val and Willadean Bever serving as attendants. 

They lived the first six of their 61 married years at the Bever farm south of Farlington, but the remainder of their years together were spent back on the same hill where she was born. It was there that she helped Darrel run the family dairy farm and raise a family; teaching her children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren the joys that hard work and a positive attitude can bring. 

Her five children survive her—Sherry Partridge (Coffeyville), Steve Bever (Johna) Farlington, Chuck Bever (Kristy) Wamego, Diane Keim (Hans) Glenwood, IA, and Kurt Bever (Jane) Bentonville, AR—as do eleven grandchildren, nine great-grandchildren, one great great granddaughter, and a large community of friends and relatives that will miss her immensely. Her parents, husband, infant brother, and great-grandson Jake passed before her.

In addition to family and school, Eda touched the lives of many people as an active member of the Farlington Methodist Church, teaching Sunday school and helping “run the show.” She was a 4-H project leader, exercising her dedication to making good citizens of the young people around her. Her mind was famously sharp and a wellspring of local history right up until the very end of her life. She will be remembered as a remarkable person, both loving and tough, and certainly someone who made the world a better and more interesting place.

The family would like to thank Westridge, Harry Hynes Hospice, Dr. Lisa Salvador, and all the people who provided Eda with friendship over her many years.

Family visitation will be on Sunday, March 10, 2019, from 6-8 pm at the Smith Carson Wall Funeral Home. Funeral services will be Monday March 11, 2019, 10 am at the Farlington Methodist Church. Burial at the Farlington Cemetery to follow.

Memorials are suggested to the United Methodist Church of Farlington or Girard High School Scholarship Fund and these may be left at the funeral home or mailed to the Smith-Carson-Wall Funeral home, 518 W. St. John P.O. Box 258, Girard, Kansas 66743.

Condolences may be sent to www.wallfuneralservices.com