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Elin
Elin Anna Elvira Barkman
Ashenhurst
December 19, 1916 - December 18, 2005
Elin Ashenhurst was born in Chicago, Illinois on Dec. 19, 1916 and passed from this world after a long life and a short illness on Dec. 18, 2005 in Colorado Springs. She was a woman of great common sense and strength of character who will be sorely missed by friends and family alike.
Elin was the daughter of Carl Ninus Barkman and Hilda Nilsson Barkman, immigrants from Sweden. She grew up on the north side of Chicago in the Swedish neighborhood and attended Northpark Junior College. In 1941she married James Harold Ashenhurst, also of Chicago, and together they had three children, John, Marcy and Julie. Elin achieved her bachelor of arts in 1959 at Elmhurst College in Elmhurst, Ill. and a master of arts in English literature from Northern Illinois University in 1964. She taught English at Willowbrook Community High School in Villa Park, Ill. for many years before retiring with her husband to Colorado Springs in 1977. She was active in the League of Women Voters, American University Women, the Democratic Party, Pikes Peak Y and the First Congregational Church of Colorado Springs.
Elin is preceded in death by her husband, James, her parents, Carl and Hilda, and her sister, Martha Fogelberg. She is survived by her children John Carl Ashenhurst (Yvonne) of Orcas Island, Washington; Marcy McNeill (Paul) of Colorado Springs; Julie Irene Andrews of Colorado Springs and these grandchildren: Kevin and Matthew Brown, Noah and James Ashenhurst; and Phoebe and Cooper Andrews. Her great-grandchildren include Morgan and Opal Ashenhurst and Aelias and Alana Brown, and she served as grandmother also to Eric and Jenny Mehiel and Chad and Cory McNeill.
A memorial service and celebration of life will be held at 3 p.m. Wednesday, Dec. 28 at First Congregational Church, 20 E. St. Vrain St. in Colorado Springs, Rev. William Mulford officiating. Memorial donations may be directed to Pike Peak Hospice, which provided loving care to Elin during the last days of her time in this life or to the First Congregational Church of Colorado Springs.