Interment: will follow at the Mount Pisgah Cemetery in Gillette, WY
Funeral services for Emol Atwood, age 91, of Buffalo, Wyoming will be at 10:00 a.m. on Saturday, Sept. 4, 2004, at the Stevenson-Wilson Funeral Home Chapel in Gillette, Wyoming with Pastor Emol Atwood (Happys namesake) officiating. Inurnment will follow at the Mount Pisgah Cemetery in Gillette, Wyoming.
Happy died Tuesday, Aug. 31, 2004, at the Johnson County Healthcare Center after a short illness.
Emol Oliver Atwood, known to his family and friends as Happy, was born Sept. 22, 1912 in Carthage, Missouri to Orvil and Martha (Fishgrabbe) Atwood. He spent his younger years among four brothers and six sisters. Since his father was a clergy, Happy lived in many places including Missouri, Colorado, Oklahoma and Kansas. As a young man, Happy joined the Civil Conservation Corp. Upon his completion at the age of eighteen, Happy came to Wyoming. He married Velma Fouts on May 7, 1938 in Deadwood, South Dakota. The couple and their three daughters made their home in Campbell County on a ranch south of Gillette near the Pumpkin Buttes. Happy was a carpenter, building many homes in the Gillette area through the years. In 1964, Happy and Velma purchased the Wyoming Motel in Buffalo, Wyoming which they owned and operated for thirteen years, retiring in the early 1970s.
Happy enjoyed gardening vegetables, flowers, trees and experimenting with non traditional plants.
He is survived by his wife Velma of sixty-six years; three daughters: Myrna Christensen and husband Jerry, and Lynda Decker all of Buffalo, Wyoming; Donna Smith and husband Mike of Grangeville, Idaho; three brothers: Omar Atwood of Pueblo, Colorado; Mel Atwood of Lesley, Arkansas; Eldon Atwood of Roundup, Montana; two sisters: Violet Hoover and Wilda Owens both of Kansas; nine grandchildren; twelve great-grandchildren; four great-great-grandchildren; several nieces and nephews and his mother-in-law, Lewella Laur of Buffalo, Wyoming.
Happy was preceded in death by his parents, one brother and two sisters.
A memorial has been established in Happys name to benefit the Buffalo Senior Center Meals on Wheels, P.O. Box 941, Buffalo, Wyoming 82834. Condolences may be sent in care of Stevenson-Wilson Funeral Home, 210 W. 5th Street, Gillette, Wyoming 82716. Condolences may also be sent via the internet at www.stevensonandsons.com
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