Elaine E. Fieldhouse DeVries

Elaine E. DeVries (nee Fieldhouse), age 90, of Crete, IL, went home to her Lord and Savior on Tuesday May 5, 2026, following a brief battle with pancreatic cancer. 

Elaine was born May 25, 1935, and raised in Lansing IL. In an era where it was common for women to marry young and create a home life, Elaine chose adventure. She attended University of Colorado Boulder, graduating with a BS in nursing in 1960. She worked at Chicago's Cook County Hospital and lived with roommates in an upscale Michigan Avenue apartment overlooking the lake. 

In 1964, she took on the role of Head of Nursing at Al Rahma Hospital in Muscat, Oman. Founded by the Reformed Church in America, Al Rahma was the only hospital in the country at the time. She was responsible for training Omanis who became technicians and nurses, allowing for the hospital to become Omani-run.

She returned to the US to marry Henry DeVries, of Blue Island IL, in 1967. In the ensuing decades she developed her creative side. Her talents included designing and sewing outfits of questionable taste for her daughter, baking Snoopy-shaped birthday cakes, and drawing up plans for the home they built together in Crete, IL. Eventually she returned to nursing at St. Margaret's Hospital in Hammond, IN and remained there until 2001. In her retirement Elaine volunteered at Crete Church and Crete Food Pantry. 

Elaine is survived by her daughter Andrea (Howard Degenholtz), her grandchildren Isaac, Sonia, and Annabel, her sister Audrey Carlson, brothers- and sisters-in-law Joyce DeVries, Carol and Vern Hoffman, David and Ruth DeVries, and many nieces and nephews. She was preceded in death by her husband Henry, her parents Hazel and William Fieldhouse, brother Richard (Elaine), and brothers-in-law Edwin Carlson and Charles DeVries.

A memorial service with refreshments will take place at 12:00 PM on Sat, May 23, 2026, at East Liberty Presbyterian Church in Pittsburgh. Interment will take place in the Abraham Lincoln National Cemetery, Elwood, Illinois.  Memorial contributions may be made to Crete Food Pantry | creteumc https://share.google/p3Xb7mfOyltqUE4Ul Arrangements by John A. Freyvogel Sons, Inc. (freyvogelfuneralhome.com)

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