Elaine Backhus

Services for Elaine Ann Backhus, 81, who died May 12 at Good Samaritan Society in Hays, will be 1 p.m. Friday at St John’s Lutheran Church, Tampa.

Visitation will be 5 to 7 p.m. Thursday at Yazel-Megli Funeral Home, Herington.

Born March 24, 1945, in Herington to Clifford and Evelyn (Hamm) Platz, she attended one-room Grandview School east of the family home in Delevan and graduated in 1963 from White City High School.

She then graduated from Donnelly College in Kansas City, Kansas, in 1964 and took a job at the Geary County courthouse, where she worked for several years.

She and Edwin Martin Backhus were married June 18, 1967, at Our Redeemer Lutheran Church in Herington. He died in 2008.

She moved to Herington in 2005, working part time as a housekeeper at the Herington hospital, and eventually moved to Russell.

Survivors include son Evan Backhus of Russell, siblings Cindy Biehler of Herington, Carol Diekmann of Herington, Mary Wylie of White City, Don Platz of Delavan, and Tina Platz of Guernsey, Wyoming, and two grandchildren.

A memorial has been established with the church.