A beloved daughter of our Heavenly Father, Eloise Rae Mathews Avant Lamoreaux, was called home February 10, 2018 after hospitalization with the flu. Eloise was born November 7, 1929 in El Paso, Texas to Harry Joseph LaVerne Mathews and Annabelle Hagee. Her parents and older sister, Vernabelle Mathews Pease, predeceased her. One younger brother, Russell H. Lewis, of Buchanan Dam, Texas survives.

Eloise flew with the Civil Air Patrol during WWII. She married Ira Marshall (Tom) Avant, Jr. on March 3, 1946 and made their home in El Paso, TX. Tommy and Eloise raised six children: Marsha Roth (Dale Roth), of Woods Cross, UT; Libby Brinegar (Rickie Brinegar), of Glendale, AZ; Ira Marshall (Mike) Avant, III (Carla Whitworth), of Kanab, UT; Tomie Parsons Avant, of Joplin, MO; Rosemary Lawyer, of Denton, TX; and June Taylor, of Denver, CO. The family moved to Las Vegas, NV in 1969, but returned to El Paso in 1972. Tom Avant returned to Heaven in 1983.

In 1988, Eloise married Gale Lamoreaux from Chandler, AZ and moved to Capitan, NM then to Joplin, MO in 2003.
During her earthly journey, Eloise lived to serve others: her family, church, community, and innumerable individuals.
We will mourn her loss and miss her presence. The earth will be diminished by her passing and the Heavens will rejoice with her return.

Funeral Services will be Saturday, February 17, 2018 at 2:00 at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, 2107 S Indiana, Joplin, Missouri. Interment will be at a later date at the Missouri Veterans Cemetery, Springfield, Missouri. Visitation Friday 6 to 7 p.m. at Mason Woodard Mortuary and Saturday 1:00 p.m. until service time at the LDS Church on Indiana.

Arrangements have been entrusted to the Mason-Woodard Mortuary and Crematory.