Eleanor Vance Gaither was born March 13, 1924, in San Diego, California, to Harry and Ella Mae Vance. She spent her childhood in San Diego, where she graduated from Herbert Hoover High School in 1941. She attended San Diego State College. She was active in Job's Daughters and the Order of the Eastern Star. During World War II she served her country on the home front by working in a defense plant where B-24 Liberator bombers were manufactured. She met her future husband, Gilbert F. Gaither, at Trinity Methodist Church in San Diego, Calif., while he was serving in the United States Marine Corps. They were married on January 13, 1945. They resided in Southern California until moving to the Ozarks in April of 1963. Eleanor was a life-long Methodist and she and her family helped organize the United Methodist Church in Ozark, Mo., in 1966. Eleanor was preceded in death by her husband Gilbert F. Gaither and infant daughter Ann Elizabeth. She is survived by her sister Dorothy Burns, Agoura Hills, Calif.; four children, Steve and wife Joyce, Springfield, Mary and husband Steve, Portland, Ore., John and wife Terrie, Iowa City, Iowa, and Paul and wife Julie, Austin, Texas; seven grandchildren; and eight great-grandchildren. Eleanor went to be with the Lord on May 27, 2013. Visitation will be on Thursday, May 30, from 6 to 8 p.m., with services on Friday, May 31, 2013 at 10 a.m., at the Gorman-Scharpf Funeral Home. Interment will be at 11 a.m. in the Missouri Veterans Cemetery. In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be sent to Christ United Methodist Church, 3537 W. Mt. Vernon St., Springfield, MO 65802.