Edith Hope Locke

UPDATED SERVICE TIME: previously the service time read 10:00 a.m. The memorial service is at 11:00 a.m. Saturday, October 6th.

Edith Hope Locke was born on October 3, 1925, in Pritchett, Colorado to Ward and Mamie Brown.  She was their third child, preceded by two boys, Raymond and Eugene, and followed by twin sisters, Elsie Brown Hargis, and Edna Brown Lowder.

As a child, Edith loved going to the movies but preferred print media as an adult.  The house always had a stack of magazines and books relating to her interests.  Whenever she got interested in something, her knowledge grew exponentially, and it was her passion to share it with others.

Edith married Ted Floyd Locke on April 4, 1942, in Boise City, Oklahoma.  Ted was drafted into the U.S. Army During WWII, leaving Edith alone with two young children, which was all too common in those dark days.  Many stories were passed down about that time.  They were both huge storytellers of their youth and the years that followed. The funny stuff, the scary stuff, the brave stuff—it all lives in the memories of those they leave behind.

A few years after marrying, Edith’s life changed radically when she found her faith in Jesus through the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, now known as Community of Christ.  Her faith was often a topic of conversation with her many friends and family.  She was often seen drinking coffee at the kitchen table, talking about her beliefs and offering wise and often humorous counsel through stories.

Children were central to Edith’s life—her own five children (Ted Ray Locke, Rebecca Long, Dena Mohr, Steven Locke, and Abbey Mullis), her 11 grandchildren, and 24 great-grandchildren, not to mention all their cousins, friends and neighbors.  She planned fun activities, and the more the merrier.  Whenever someone told her they were coming to visit, she would ask, “And who else is coming?”

She also cherished time spent with adult relatives and friends, too many to name.  Friends and relatives alike benefited from the traditional home-making arts she practiced: Canning food, sewing clothing, crocheting, hand- and machine knitting, and cooking three meals a day almost every day of her life.  Many of her interests led to small businesses:  A grocery store, knitting and crocheting lessons, an antique store, an herb store, and being a knitting machine distributor.

Visitors were always welcome in Edith’s home, without notice, for an hour or for even a few days.  What a legacy to leave—the closeness of an extended family without the constraint of worrying about intruding, always confident of being welcomed and welcoming in return.  Life never seemed to get in the way of that.

Edith Hope Locke was 92 years old at her passing on July 28, 2018.  The only sibling to outlive her is Elsie Brown Hargis, also residing in Springfield, Colorado.  Edith was interred in the Brown family plot on July 30, 2018.