Eloise (Willingham) Koonce
Region 6 RVP 1988-89
December 9, 1931 - Living
by Ray Houston

Eloise Willingham was born December 9, 1931, in Franklin, Texas, the daughter of Kirk Deen Willingham & Bernardine (Price) Willingham.

She grew up in Austin, Texas, and attended Tarleton State University in Stephenville, Texas, and Texas Tech in Lubbock, Texas. She met Gene Kimble Koonce while at Tarleton State and they married. Since Gene was a Petroleum Geologist, they spent several years moving around the Texas "oil patch," living in Tyler, Midland, Wichita Falls, and Grand Saline. They finally settled down in Richardson, Texas, after Gene became a stock broker in 1968.

Eloise was in charge of the School District's Planetarium, and she called herself the "Chief" Stargazer. Before that, she taught science in Junior High School. As soon as her daughter was old enough to go to first grade, Eloise went back to teaching.

She has always loved flowers, but daylilies entered their lives when they attended a flower show in Dallas. She said that as soon as they walked up to that show, Ury Winniford and Joyce Lewis talked them into joining American Hemerocallis Society and the local Dallas club.

She served Region 6 as 1988-89 RVP and Newsletter Editor. In 1988, Eloise helped charter the North Texas Daylily Society. Eloise won an award in 1991 for her 1990 Region 6 Summer Newsletter article about Ury Winniford. The Region 14 Slide Sequence Award was presented to both Gene and Eloise in 1998 for their clever "Dolly Do and Dora Don’t."

In 2000, Eloise and Gene were honored as recipients of the American Hemerocallis Society Region 6 Service Award for their service to American Hemerocallis Society and Region 6. They performed a vast array of jobs and duties in Region 6. Both Gene and Eloise were Garden Judges, Exhibition Judges, and Exhibition Judges Instructors. As active members of the Daylily Growers of Dallas, both held various positions such as President, Membership Chair, Treasurer, and Flower Show Chair.

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