Obituary: Helen Claggett Funkhouser

Helen Claggett Funkhouser, 99, Baldwin, formerly of Tonganoxie, died Sunday, Feb. 2, 2003, at Baldwin Care Center, Baldwin. No services are planned, and Mrs. Funkhouser donated her body to the University of Kansas Medical Center.

Mrs. Funkhouser was born March 30, 1903, in Dayton, Ohio, the daughter of Dr. Wilson G. and Elsa-Mae (Kneisley) Claggett. She married James Alexander Funkhouser on Aug. 14, 1925, in Dayton. He died March 4, 1994.

Mrs. Funkhouser graduated from Steel High School in 1923; attended Ohio State University and Carnegie Institute of Technology drama department, Pittsburgh, Pa. She became well-known as a concert singer and teacher of voice and was a news reporter for the Manchester Union Leader for 10 years.

She was elected to the New Hampshire Legislature in 1952. She was president of the New Hampshire Roadside Improvement Association and president of the New Hampshire Federation of Garden Clubs from 1946 to 1948.

She moved to California in 1961 where in 1963 she was elected to the Las Virgenes Resource Conservation District. Mrs. Funkhouser was the president and first woman elected to the resource conservation districts. For 14 years she served on the Los Angeles Citizens Planning Council. She was president of Malen Corporation and ran the “House of Star,” the largest beauty salon in the San Fernando Valley.

Mrs. Funkhouser taught at California Lutheran University and received the Pearl Buck National Award for civic work presented to national by the Kappa Delta Alumna Association of San Fernando Valley.

She moved to Tonganoxie in 1986 and was a member of P.E.O. She was a life member of National Council of State Garden Clubs, of American Forestry, of Save the Redwood League, of Las Virgenes Historical Society and the Tonganoxie Historical Society. She was a member of the National Order of Women Legislators and a member of First Congregational Church, Tonganoxie. She was listed in “Who’s Who of American Women,” as a writer, singer and teacher. She wrote “Autobiography,” published in 1991.

Survivors include a son, James Claggett Funkhouser, Baldwin; a daughter, Elsa-Mae Jensen, Cincinnati, Ohio; two grandchildren; and five great-grandchildren.