Eileen Daughtery

Eileen Rose (Graber) Sprunger Daugherty, 94, of Berne passed away Monday, Dec. 18, 2023, at Swiss Village in Berne. She was born on Nov. 10, 1929, to Henry P. and Adella (Habegger) Graber, at the home farm in Monroe Township, Adams County. She was married to Marvin Dale Sprunger on June 11, 1949. He died in Aug. 1985. She married Bill Daughtery in Feb. 2002.
She was born just after the stock market crash that began the Great Depression. Her family owned a farm north of Berne. She worked hard with her dad in the fields during the summer, which instilled in her a strong work ethic. Fluent in Swiss Dialect, she did not speak English until she started first grade in the one-room school north of Berne.
She was the second oldest of the four siblings. In 1947, she graduated second in her class from Monroe High School. In 1949, after dating one year, she married the love of her life, Marvin Dale Sprunger, at the First Mennonite Church in Berne. Immediately after the wedding, she and Marv set up house in Fayetteville, North Carolina where Marv was stationed at Ft. Bragg.  Once discharged, they moved back to Berne and started Custom Floor & Wall, which they operated for 25 years until Marvin’s death in 1985.
She and Marv had two daughters, Carol (1951) and Gloria (1953). She was active in Mother’s Club in the 1950s. Eileen and Marv were founding members of Grace Bible Church in the 1960s.  Eileen loved the Lord and taught Good News Club when the girls were young. She taught Sunday school and was church organist at Grace Bible Church for many years. She also served on the board of Evangelism Explosion, along with Marv, for several years.
One year after Marv’s passing, she sold Custom Floor & Wall and moved to Tulsa, Oklahoma to be near Gloria and her family. She loved Tulsa and became active in the leadership of Bible Study Fellowship. She loved singing in the church choir at First United Methodist Church and her small group at Fellowship Bible Church, which became her church home.
In 1987, she became the division secretary for Waddell & Reed Financial Services in Tulsa. She retired in 1997, after 10 years. Later in 1997, Eileen began volunteer work at Hillcrest Hospital in Tulsa, and soon was hired by Hillcrest to work in the gift shop, which she loved. She stayed at Hillcrest for five years.
In 2001, she met Bill Daugherty of Pennville and they were married in February 2002.  She enjoyed traveling and accompanying The Christianaires, Bill’s Southern Gospel Quartet. Bill passed away in 2017, and once again, she was widowed.
After a terrible farm accident in 2016, she spent two months in rehab at Swiss Village. In late 2016, she and Bill moved to Swiss Village, where she lived until her passing. Upon moving back to Berne, she once more became an active member of Grace Bible Church where she served as part-time organist. She loved her small group and especially her pastor and wife, Jeff and Becky Gaskill.
Her greatest joy was spending time with her children, grandchildren and great grandchildren.  They gave her such joy and she prayed for each individually every single day. She was an avid reader, and music was her love language. She also mentored many people in her 94 years.
She is survived by her two daughters, Carol (Allen) Pease, and Gloria (David) Newman both of Tulsa, Oklahoma; stepsons, Ron Daugherty of Indianapolis, and Don Daugherty of Plymouth;  four grandchildren, Kavan Pyle of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Katie (Seymore) Shaw of Ft. Worth, Texas, Natalie (David) Leonard of Thompson’s Station, Tennessee, and Lindsey (Brian) Meek of Bixby, Oklahoma; six great-grandchildren, Sydney and Journey Shaw, Ella Kate and River Leonard, Harper and Hudson Meek; sister-in-law, Nancy Graber, and many nieces, nephews and cousins.
In addition to the loss of Marvin and Bill, she was preceded in death by her parents, Henry and Adella Graber; step-mother, Rachel Graber; sisters, Evelyn Rich and Delores Moser; brother, Don Graber; grandson, Jeffrey Pyle; and son-in-law, Sidney Sokolsky.
Visitation is from 10-11 a.m. Monday, Jan. 8, 2024, at the Swiss Village Chapel, 1350 W. Main St., Berne with a celebration of life following at 1 p.m. In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to Grace Bible Church, Berne or Gideon’s International.
Arrangements by Zwick & Jahn Funeral Homes, Yager-Kirchhofer Chapel of Berne.