Ina Funkhouser

RANTOUL - Ina Laree Funkhouser, 96, a longtime resident of Rantoul, passed away at her daughter's home in Scottsdale, Ariz., on Thursday (Oct. 30, 2025).

Ina was born in Forest on Sept. 15, 1929. She was raised and supported mainly by her mother, Grace Davis Rasner Anderson. They lived in a series of homes in and around Champaign. She graduated from Champaign High School in 1949. Ina married Robert F. Funkhouser on June 4, 1950, and moved to Rantoul, which she called her home for the next 65 years. After Robert passed in 2014, she divided her remaining years living with her granddaughter Marlana Smith in Rantoul and daughter Karen Canada in Scottsdale.

Ina spent most of her early married life raising three daughters in addition to offering care to other children in Rantoul before day cares were common. She was one of the first nursery achool teachers at the United Methodist Church through the late '60s and early '70s. Three-year-olds were her favorite age, and she enjoyed seeing the children grow up to become adults.

As her own daughters went off to college, Ina began working at Kraft Foods Inc., where she became a mother figure to a few of her fellow workers. After retiring from Kraft, she could be found out and about with either her grandchildren or, later, her great-grandchildren.

Growing flowers and plants in her yard was another of her pastimes. She shared a flower garden with her next-door neighbor for several years, and they were the garden of the week in August 2011.

Her home was a focal point for extended family gatherings for holidays and birthdays. The door was always open to friends and family. Later years saw her caring for her in-laws and eventually caring for her own parents in her home.

Ina was preceded in death by her daughters, Jane Funkhouser (April 9, 1953), Irene Elaine Quick (Dec. 14, 2003) and Myra Jane Funkhouser (June 16, 2005); and husband, Robert Francis Funkhouser (Oct. 19, 2014).

She is survived by her daughter and son-in-law Karen and Miles Canada; grandchildren, Katharine Canada, Kevin Canada, Marlana (Chad) Smith and Marshall Quick; and great-grandchildren, Natalie and Madelyn Smith.

A celebration of Ina's life will be at 11 a.m. Friday, Nov. 7, at Sunset Funeral Home's Lux Memorial Chapel, 1551 E. Grove Ave., Rantoul. Visitation of family and friends will be held one hour prior to services at the funeral home. Burial will follow in Eastlawn Cemetery, Urbana.

Please join Ina's family in sharing memories, photos and video on her tribute wall at sunsetfuneralhome.com.