February 25, 2015

Nina “Sue” Senate, 99, passed away at the home of her son, Feb. 16, 2015. Winterrowd Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements. As per her wishes, following cremation, there will be no services locally. There will be a memorial service at a later date. It will be held at the Parker Methodist Church Parker, Kan. Inurnment will follow in the Elm Grove Cemetery, Cadmus, Kan., Monday, March 30, 10:30 a.m.
Sue is survived by her son Ron and wife Nancy; granddaughter, Amy Senate of Streator; great-granddaughter, Holly Deardorff of Grand Junction, Colo.; sister Rosalie Davis of Parker, Kan.; and many nieces and nephews.
She was preceded in death by her parents; husband, Leland; granddaughter, Sue Vissering; four sisters, Ruth Hay, Dale Cady, Eula Holden, and Erma Hampton; four brothers, Alden, Frank, Jay and Wayne Crisler.
Sue was born on a small farm in Linn County, Kan. on March 30, 1915. She was the fourth of 10 children born to her parents, Jess and Coral (Shattuck) Crisler. Growing up at this time in history was tough. There were dust storms on the Plains, the crash of 1929 and of course, the Great Depression.
Against all odds, the family stayed together.
All 10 children attended the Fairview one-room schoolhouse located one and one-quarter miles from the farm. All went on to high school in nearby towns. Sue graduated from La Cygne High School, La Cygne, Kan., in 1933. After graduation, she remained at home for two years to help her mother with the care of her six younger siblings.
Sue then moved to Paola, Kan., where she met and married her husband, Leland Senate, on Oct. 24, 1937. They were married 50 years until Lee’s death in 1987. Lee worked for Sinclair Pipeline Company which was laying pipe to bring the oil from the fields in Texas and Oklahoma to the refineries in East Chicago and Whiting, Ind.
After wartime service in the Pacific, they followed the pipeline north, arriving in Streator, Ill., in 1949. Four years later, Lee was transferred to Oklahoma, where a larger line was being built. They eventually wound up in Streator, Ill., in 1957. Lee was made foreman of the Streator–Mazon District and they remained there until retirement in 1979.
Sue and Lee moved to Rogers, Ark., living there until Lee’s death in 1987. Sue then moved back to Streator to be close to her son, Ronald and his family. She made her home with them for the last 10 years. She was a member of the First United Methodist Church of Streator. Hers was a long and full life.
Gone now but never to be forgotten.