Andrew Washington Funkhouser was born the second of 10 children to Parmer Cornelius Funkhouser and Mary Anne (Birnell) Funkhouser. He had six brothers (Richard Wirth, Clinton Anderson, Ross Haven, Harry Nelson, Delbert Lee) and three sisters (Jencie Elizabeth, Inez Murden, Nancy Louise).

Andrew along with three brothers were born in Champaign County Illinois and came east to Logansport, Indiana on the Wabash railroad sometime around 1905 to live with his grandfather John Birnell. Andrew's father, Parm was for the most part an itinerant sharecropper and odd jobs man who moved the family continuously. Life was hard.

After WW I, around 1924, Andrew joined the Navy and served aboard the USS Seattle CA-11, a coal burning Heavy Cruiser out of Bremerton, Washington. He was a fireman and shoveled a lot of coal. He had considered making a career of the Navy but unexpectedly, and without his knowledge, his father applied to the Navy for a hardship discharge for Andrew which was something that could be done in those days. So he soon found himself back on the farm plowing fields behind a smelly mule. This was one of the reasons he joined the Navy in the first place. He was not a happy camper.

Andrew's brother Ross left the farm for good somewhere around 1927 and moved to Mishawaka, Indiana to work in a meat plant learning the trade of sausage making. Not long after that, Andrew followed him.

Through the influence of his brother Ross, Andrew went to work for Major Brothers Packing company as a driver delivering meat around northern Indiana and southern Michigan. At this time, there was no such thing as boxed meat which meant a lot of wrestling around whole sides of beef. For a small man, he gained considerable strength over a period of some twenty odd years.

Andrew met Marie Glendon Eubank at church one Sunday and decided this was the gal for him. They were eventually married on June 12, 1938 in the Pilgrim Holiness Church in South Bend, Indiana. They moved into an upper floor apartment on Strathmore St. in Mishawaka. They were living there when their first child came along, a son they named Harry Melvin. They were to have three more children, Russell Henry, Rebecca Ruth, and Patricia Anne.

From the Strathmore apartment they moved in the early 1940s to a house on Baker St. which they rented for a short time. In the early1940s they purchased a seven room -three bedroom- house on 8th Street in Mishawaka for $3600.

Andrew continued working for the packing house which was bought out by Hygrade Meats until the early 1950s, when he went to work for a small trucking company out of South Bend, Indiana. Here he was a short distance road driver of semi trucks, and at times a dock worker.

They continued to live at the 8th street address until 1967 when they moved to the home of Marie's father who had recently passed away. This was a four acre property on Brick Rd. north of the South Bend airport. This turned out to be the perfect place for Andrew as he was retiring at this time

After Andrew retired, he spent nearly all his Spring, Summer, and Fall time in a huge garden, which provided so much produce that Marie informed him that she was only going to can and preserve just so much and that was it. Period! Needless to say this did not deter him one bit and all of their relatives and friends soon began making less trips to the produce aisle when shopping.

Andrew was, for the most part, a strong and healthy man most of his life. However, underlying medical issues who's symptoms are not so noticeable at an earlier age, progress with time and bring about serious medical issues. This was so with Andrew. Having kept arteriosclerosis under check for many years, things began to change in his mid to late eighties when Transient Ischemic Attacks (TIAs) took over. This progressed to the point where he had a great many symptoms of Alzheimers.

About this time, Marie, who had discovered she had breast cancer in 1984 found that it had metastasized to her lungs. Both her and Andrew needed constant care and with the kids now spread around and caught up in their own busy lives, there was no other course left but to put them in a nursing home, which was Countryside Place in Mishawaka, Indiana.

Within two months Marie died two days before Christmas in 1991. Andrew was to live on another two and one half years before dying on Monday June 20, 1994 in the nursing home.


… Harry M. Funkhouser (son)

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OBITUARY: South Bend Tribune June 21, 1994

South Bend -- Andrew W. Funkhouser, 92, of Countryside Place, Mishawaka, formerly of 23639 Brick Road, died at 3:35 p.m. Monday in the nursing home. Mr. Funkhouser retired from Clemens Truck Line in 1976 after 15 years of service. He was born may 18, 1902 in Champaign County, Illinois. OnJune 12, 1938, in South Bend, he married Marie G. Eubank. She died Dec. 23, 1991. Surviving are two daughters, Becky Zion of Goshen and Patricia A. Morton of Lexington, N.C.; two sons, Harry M. of Alachua, Fla. and Russell H. of South Bend.; five grandchildren; two great grandchildren; a sister, Inez Godfroy of Logansport; and three brothers, Ross H. of Alachua, Fla., Clinton of Logansport and Paul of Osceola. He was a mamber of Teamsters Union Local 364.
Services will be held at 1 p.m. Friday in Bubb Funeral Chapel North, 3910 North Main St., Mishawaka. Burial will be in Chapel Hill Memorial Gardens, Osceola. Friends may call drom 2 to 4 and 6 to 8 p.m. Thursday in the funeral home.