ELDON JUNIOR PLAUGHER, age 85 years, a resident of Hendricks, WV, departed this life Tuesday, May 11, 2010 at his home. He had been in declining health.
He was born Wednesday, June 4, 1924 at Gladwin, WV, a son of the late Wilbert M. and The Rev. Lilly G. Carr Plaugher. On February 29, 1948 at Oakland, Md, he was married to the former Thelma L. Sponaugle, who survives. They were devoted to each other for sixty two years.
Also surviving are one son, Eldon Ronald Plaugher and wife Linda of Holly Meadows; two grandsons, Thomas Plaugher and wife Georgette of Seven Islands and Aaron Plaugher and wife Christine of Caldwell, WV; two great grandchildren, Gillian and Patrick Plaugher, both of Caldwell.
Preceding him in death are two sisters, Madeline Plaugher Alkire and Leta Plaugher.
He attended the one room school at Gladwin, the Hendricks Hill School and Parsons High School. He was eighteen when he began working for the Western Maryland Railroad. In 1943, he was called into the Army serving in the European Theater. He was a Locomotive Engineer 110 in Company C 716th Railway Operation Battalion and drove trains in France and Germany. He drove General Eisenhower in the first train that crossed the Rhine River. He was discharged in March 1946 and continued his railroading career until 1988 when he retired with forty six years on the Western Maryland and Chessie System. He loved his family, loved being a railroader, camping and fishing on Gandy Creek, hunting with his son and grandsons, and in his later years visiting with his buddies by the coal stove in his woodshop. He attended the St. George Church of God.
The family will receive friends at the Lohr & Barb Funeral Home of Parsons on Thursday from 5 to 8 PM. Final rites will be conducted at the funeral home parlor Friday, May 14, 2010 at 1 PM. Pastor Carolyn Shreve will officiate with Rev. Candace Storgill assisting and interment will follow at the Parsons City Cemetery at Parsons, where the H.W. Daniels Post #29 American Legion and the Tygart Valley Post #3647 Veterans of Foreign War and the Tucker Co. Veterans Assoc. will conduct full military rites.
