Elaine Kay Christensen

Elaine Kay Christensen, 80, of Columbus, passed away on Monday, May 20, 2024, at Silver Oaks Health Campus. Mrs. Christensen was born on September 4, 1943, at Genesee Memorial Hospital in Batavia, NY. She was the daughter of the late Walter W. Hofmann and Beatrice J. Wombwell Hofmann of Stafford, NY. She married Gary P. Christensen on June 24, 1967. Mrs. Christensen was a 1961 graduate of Byron-Bergen Central School in New York State and graduated from Rochester Business Institute with a Medical Secretarial Science degree, and was employed by the U.S. Government in Washington, D.C. Mrs. Christensen volunteered as church secretary, newsletter editor, and classroom aide after working at Bartholomew County Hospital as manager of the Radiology unit. After their transfer to Jamestown, NY, she was employed as an Administrative Assistant to the Cummins Chief Engineer and retired with her husband in 2004. Mrs. Christensen was a member of St. Paul’s Episcopal (Stafford, NY) and St. George’s Episcopal (Arlington, VA) as well as Fairlawn Presbyterian (Columbus, IN) and Westminster Presbyterian in Jamestown, NY. Mrs. Christensen served in Presbyterian churches in both Columbus, IN, and Jamestown, NY in a secretarial capacity and classroom teacher with several youth age groups. She enjoyed social clubs in both communities – book club, euchre club, sports car club, square dance club, and was an active crocheter – donating infant hats to the hospitals. Funeral services will be conducted at 1 p.m. Saturday, May 25, 2024, at Jewell-Rittman Family Funeral Home with Rev. Howard Boles officiating. Calling hours will be from 11 a.m. until service time on Saturday. Burial will be held at Flatrock Baptist Cemetery. Memorial contributions may be made to First United Methodist Church, 618 8th St., Columbus, IN 47201, or CARE (Community Animal Rescue Efforts) P.O. Box 1234, Columbus, IN 47202, or through the funeral home. Survivors include her husband, Gary Christensen; daughter, Janie Kathleen Emerick (Greg), of Columbus, IN; son, Dana Paul Christensen, of Raleigh, NC; grandchildren, Abigail Christensen, Samuel Christensen, Caroline Emerick, William Emerick, and numerous nieces, nephews, grandnieces and grandnephews. Mrs. Christensen is preceded in death by her parents, Walter and Beatrice Hofmann; brother and sister-in-law, Earl B. and Dorothy Hofmann, and sister, Margaret Ellen Overfield. You are invited to view her video tribute, light a virtual candle of remembrance, and leave a message of condolence to the family online at www.jewellrittman.com.