Elna Van Dyke

Elna Elizabeth Van Dyke, 84, passed away surrounded by her family on January 9, 2026. Elna was born to Harold H. and Mildred (Head) Johnson August 15, 1941 in Bucklin, Linn County, Missouri. She was named after her Swedish grandmother, Elna (Lindquist) Johnson and she was very protective of that name, never hesitating to correct someone if they said "Elma". On June 10, 1962 she married Larry Van Dyke and they had two children, Lorie and Bryan. She is survived by her husband Larry, daughter Lorie (Raymond) O'Regan of Connecticut and son Bryan (Leslie) Van Dyke of Wichita. She is also survived by her sister Marilyn McKee, Keith Johnson, Darrel Johnson, and Debbie Jenkins and many other friends and relatives.

Elna enjoyed having flowers both inside and outside her house. She liked sewing, embroidering, and cross stitching. She made beautiful cross stitched Christmas stockings for Larry and herself and for Lorie, Ray, Bryan, Leslie, and Bryan and Leslie's dog Sammy. She also liked cooking, baking, and canning food. She loved her black miniature schnauzer, Bud.

Elna enjoyed traveling and we visited many of the National Parks: Yellowstone, Glacier, Arches, Grand Canyon and others throughout the country. We made 3 trips to Alaska, two of those involved driving new Winnebago's to Anchorage, sightseeing along the way. Getting her to go to Europe the first time took a little persuasion. But once she got over the initial fear, she enjoyed trips to Ireland, Scotland, England, France, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Israel and Petra, Jordan. Then we took two river cruises. One on the Rhine River from Basel, Switzerland to Amsterdam, Netherlands; and one from Budapest, Hungary to Nuremburg, Germany and Prague, Czech Republic.

A Memorial Service will be held at 10 AM Saturday January 17 at Chapel Hill Methodist Church, 1550 N. Chapel Hill Street, Wichita, KS 67206. Burial will be made at a later date in Bucklin Masonic Cemetery, Bucklin, Missouri.

In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made to the Chapel Hill Methodist Church, 1550 N. Chapel Hill Street, Wichita, KS 67206 or Alzheimer's Association Home Office, 225 N. Michigan Ave., Fl. 17, Chicago, IL 60601 (https://www.alz.org/get-involved-now/donate).