Eloise Mary Cecelia (Marx) Shoults (1923 - 2013)

Born 11 Nov 1923 in Sparta, Wisconsin

Ancestors

Wife of Charles Raymond Shoults Jr. — married 8 Sep 1944 in Washington, D.C.

Descendants

Died 3 Dec 2013 at age 90 in Lewistown, Missouri

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Reverend Eloise Mary Marx Shoults, 90, of Knox City, Missouri, passed away Tuesday, December 4, 2013, at the Country Aire Retirement Center in Lewistown, Missouri.

Eloise was born on November 11, 1923 in Sparta, Wisconsin, the daughter of Lawrence John Marx and Effie Verna (Bean, Marx) Dahl.

She graduated from Logan High School in La Crosse, Wisconsin, and then attended a two year College for Officer Training for Salvation Army ministers in Chicago, Illinois. It was there that she met another young cadet, Charles Raymond Shoults, Jr. After graduation, he joined the Navy and was stationed in Washington, D.C., where they were married September 8, 1944. To this union twelve children were born.

As a Navy wife, Eloise accompanied her spouse to Norfolk, Virginia, where he attended the Naval School of Music, and their daughter Eloise, Jr was born in 1945. Next, they went to Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, where their son, Charles, Jr. was born in Honolulu in 1947. Returning to the Washington D.C. their third child, Gregory was born at the hospital at Bethesda Naval Station in 1948.

Their fourth child, Steven was also born in 1949, while his father was in the Navy, however he took a break in service and they moved to Hannibal Missouri, where their fifth child, Janne was born in 1952.

Next, they moved to Kirksville, Missouri, while Charles attended the Missouri State Teacher's College (latter called Northeast Missouri State College, and now Truman State Univeristy.) It was while in Kirksville that their sixth child, Kerrie, was born in 1953.

After Charles graduated, he taught band in Atlanta, Missouri, where their seventh child, Thomas (Tom) was born in 1954. Charles also became an associate pastor of the United Methodist Church there, and attended seminary and was ordained in Columbia, Missouri.

They moved to Sparta, Wisconsin, where Charles tried his hand at farming (he was a city boy) and also taught school. It was there that their eighth child, Timothy was born in 1956.

Charles went back in the Navy, returning to the Washington, D.C. area. While living in Naval Housing in Cargo Green, Virginia (affectionately known as "Dogpatch," their ninth child, Christopher was born in 1958.

The family moved out of Naval housing and bought their first home on Gloucestor Road, in Alexandria Virginia. Their tenth child, Samuel was born in 1959 and their eleventh child, Grant was born in 1961 while at this address.

Charles again left active Navy service, but joined the reserves, from which he eventually retired. He moved the family first to Coon Valley, near Lacrosse, Wisconsin, then to Wichita Kansas, where he and Eloise jointly pastored a Salvation Army Corps on the North Side of Wichita, Kansas. Their twefth child, Peter, was born there in 1964.

Of the twelve children, eleven of them enlisted in the military. Eloise was a "Blue Star" mother, with children serving in the United Sates Military for over forty continuous years.

In 1965, the family moved to Schuyler County, Missouri, where Charles taught school at both Queen City and Lancaster, Missouri. Eloise returned to college in the fall of 1970 at Northeast Missouri State University (Now Truman University) in Kirksville, Missouri to pursue a degree in Elementary Education.

Upon graduation, she taught eighth grade for several years, before receiving a request from the United Methodist church to become a pastor. She became the first female to serve as a "circuit preacher" and was a minister to as many as seven churches in the district at one time.

A circuit preacher is a Christian minister who, in response to a shortage of ministers, officiates at multiple churches in an area, thus covering a "circuit". She received a post-graduate degree from St. Paul's Seminary School in Kansas City, Missouri.

Some of the churches where she was known as "Pastor Eloise" were Milam Chapel at Bevier, Big Spring Church, New Florence Church and Broadway Methodist Church. She chronicled her adventures as a circuit preacher in her book, "I Made It To Broadway - United Methodist Church"

Author: Eloise Marx Publisher: Rabeth Publishing Company Language: English ISBN-10: 1886364001 ISBN-13: 978-1886364004