Christine Anne Longenbaugh

Christine Anne Longenbaugh, 53, of Elkhart, died at her home Saturday morning, August 5, 2006, after a long battle with multiple myeloma. She was born January 18, 1953 in Springfield, Illinois to Carl and Marge (Sanders) Lohman.  On August 9, 1975, she married Jeffrey R. Longenbaugh, DVM, at the St. Thomas Catholic Church in Elkhart.   A member of the Trinity Lutheran Church, Mrs. Longenbaugh graduated from Elkhart High School in 1971 and Purdue University in 1975.    Employed by the Elkhart County Special Education Cooperative in 1995, she worked as a speech and language pathologist at Wakarusa Elementary and Concord Westside schools.  As of 2004 she worked solely at Westside Elementary School where she continued speech and language therapy and also became impassioned with helping primary level students develop reading skills.  She led the development of a new program at Westside that put current development theories into action linking language and reading skills in the primary grades.   She was an avid reader and loved to knit.   Mrs. Longenbaugh is survived by her husband, Jeffrey; a son, Grant Isaac Longenbaugh of Elkhart; her parents, Carl and Marge Lohman of Elkhart; two sisters, Carol (Ron) Stukerjurgen of Houghton, Iowa and Kathy (William) Klingele of Copley, Ohio; a brother, Jack (Sandy) Lohman of Chesterfield, Missouri; and a sister-in-law, Janice Lohman of Elkhart.   She was preceded in death by a daughter, Anne K. Longenbaugh in January 2005 and a brother, James Lohman in 1995.   Friends will be received 5 to 8 p.m., Monday, August 7, and one hour prior to the service on Tuesday at the Trinity Lutheran Church, 202 S. Greene Road, Goshen.   A 3:00 p.m., Tuesday, August 8, 2006, memorial service will be held at the Trinity Lutheran Church, Goshen.  Pastor Duane Shaffer will officiate.   Memorial contributions may be given to CAPS (Child and Parent Services) and will go to "Families First", a partnership of local organizations which supports parents preparing children to succeed when they enter school.