Celia “Susie” Marie (Drath) Ekman, 83, of Delavan, died unexpectedly May 19, 2016, at Aurora Lakeland Medical Center in Elkhorn.
She was born in West Chicago, Ill., on May 31, 1932, to Marx H. and Hattie Blanche (Ferdon) Drath. At the age of 10, she moved with her family to Belvidere, Ill. After the death of her mother when 
Celia was 12, she resided with her sister, Helen, and her family. There she learned how to cook many of her family’s favorites.
While working as a carhop, she met George K. Ekma, and on Oct. 7, 1949, they were married at the First Baptist Church in Belvidere, Ill. Before starting a family, Celia worked at National Lock in Rockford, Ill. When the first of their five children, all born in Illinois, arrived, she became a stay-at-home mom. In 1962, the family moved to Delavan. In 1965, Celia started working at Oak Manufacturing in Elkhorn. Later, she started a career at the Walworth County Home, first as a nursing assistant, then the laundry department assistant, and finally the head of the laundry department. She “retired” in 1978, after the birth of the first of her seven grandchildren. She became the kind of grandma everyone wants – baking treats and sewing prize-winning Halloween costumes. Her talents included cooking, sewing, gardening, crafting and an ability to fix almost anything.
Celia is survived by her daughters, Leanne (Bill Wells) Ekman and Gail (Dale) Thompson; sons, Edward, Christopher and Mark (Bonny) Ekman, all of Delavan; grandchildren, Kate Ekman, William and Ellen (Gilberto) Wells, Eric (Spruha) Thompson, Emily (Nicholas) Bell, and Parker and Scott Ekman; 13 great grandchildren; siblings, Lucille Ripley, Rida Drath, William Drath, and Clara Carter, all of Illinois; sisters-in-law, Virginia Drath and Rita Ekman, of Wisconsin, and Gloria Ekman, and Gwendolyn Wylie, of Illinois.
Celia is preceded in death by her husband, George; her parents; four sisters, Peggy, Helen, Noella and Sally; three brothers, Herbert, John, and Frank; brothers-in-law Gilbert, Gerald, Pete, John, Dale and Don; and sisters-in-law Bonnie and Fran.
Funeral services will be at 11 a.m. Friday at Monroe Funeral Home, 604 E. Walworth Ave. in Delavan with the Rev. Gary Sisk officiating. Visitation will be from 5 to 7 p.m. Thursday and 10 a.m. until time of service at the funeral home on Friday. Burial will take place at Spring Grove Cemetery in Delavan.
Monroe Funeral Home is assisting the family.
