GOODING, Viola Allen - Fountain County INGenWeb Project

Services will be at 2 p.m. Saturday at the Thomas Funeral Home in Waynetown for Mrs. Viola Gooding, 92, of Crawfordsville Route 3, a life resident of Wallace. She died at 6:45 a.m. Thursday, Aug 13 1981, at the Lane Nursing Home in Crawfordsville. Death was attributed to natural causes. The Rev. John Foxworthy will officiate. Burial will be in Lutheran Cemetery at Wallace. Visitation will be after 4 p.m. today at the funeral home. Mrs. Gooding, a housewife, had attended the Yeddo Old Settlers Reunion in Veedersburg ever since she was six years old. The first Yeddo Settlers Reunion was held in 1878. Last year, she accepted the award for having attended the most of the annual events and the oldest woman attending. She had attended 89 of the reunions. In an interview with the commercial News last year, she quipped, "If I could have been born sooner, I could have - and would have - attended even more." The two missed were because of illness, she recalled. She just missed this year's reunion to be held next week. She attended rural Parke county schools. Born April 27 1889, in Parke county, she was the daughter of Cornelius "Neil" and Harriet Sowers Allen. She was married April 27 1918 to George W. Gooding, who died July 5 1970. Survivors include three sons, George Earl of Crawfordsville, Russell and Dale both of Wallace; a sister, Mrs. Icel Shelton of Crawfordsville; and nine grandchildren and two great grandchildren. Two sisters and four brothers also preceded her in death.