Eulea E. Tharp, 89, of Blue Springs, Missouri, passed away Monday, August 27, 2018. Funeral services will be held at 1:00 p.m. on Friday, August 31st at First Baptist Church of Oak Grove, MO. The family will receive friends from 12:00 p.m. until service time at the church. Graveside services will be held at 3:00 p.m. in Missouri State Veterans Cemetery in Higginsville, MO.
Eulea was born July 7, 1929, in Lordsburg, New Mexico, the daughter of Silas and Zella (Mayes) Hough. After a few years at the height of the Great Depression, Zella Hough found employment as a school teacher in the tiny town of Wenden, Arizona, as the town had only 5 children, and the Houghs had three more, to make up the necessary count of 8 children for a one-room school. Silas, also an educator, became a circuit preacher.
Eulea grew up in Wenden and proved to be a gifted student under the tutelage of her mother Zella. She graduated at 16, and attended Baylor University in Texas, where she majored in chemistry and minored in music, studying piano under the great American pianist Storm Bull. After receiving her Bachelor’s Degree in Chemistry, Eulea entered a graduate program at the University of Kansas, where she met a promising young Engineering student, I. J. Tharp, who belonged to a Christian fraternity that dined at the same place that Eulea did. Romance ensued, and I. J. married Eulea in 1950, after completing his degree in Electrical Engineering.
I.J. was hired by the IBM Corporation, and he and Eulea moved around the country as I.J. gained new assignments with IBM. Though Eulea worked outside the home on various occasions as a mathematician and as an educator, she chose to remain close to her family as a homemaker throughout her life. They lived in Endicott, NY, Poughkeepsie, NY, Alexandria, VA, Huntsville, AL, Boulder, CO, and Tucson, AZ, where I.J. retired 38 years later. Shortly afterward, they moved to Blue Springs, MO, to be closer to their family, and they resided there for the rest of their times. I.J. passed away in January of 2017.
Eulea is the mother to two children, son David Tharp and his wife Sandy, presently of Fort Collins, CO, and daughter Carolyn Blair of Blue Springs, MO. She is grandmother to Cynthia Tharp of Columbia, MO, and Sarah Tharp Hanley of St. Louis, MO, children of son, David Tharp. She is also grandmother to Bryan Blair of Albany, OR, and Alicia Blair of Kansas City, MO, children of daughter Carolyn Blair.
Eulea and I.J. Tharp were happily married sweethearts for 66 years.
Arrangements: Royer Funeral Home, Oak Grove, MO 816-690-4441