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Eileen Becker Justus, 97, the wife of the late Rev. Karl Justus, died June 6 in Bethesda. Service and interment were private.

She was born Aug. 3, 1912, at home in New York City, the daughter of the late Frederick W. Becker and Mabelle Fenn Becker. In her growing up years, they had a family home on City Island in Long Island Sound.

She and Karl Justus married in 1947. They had one son, John Justus, of Bethesda.

Most of his ministry was as a military chaplain and from 1945 to 1961, with the National Conference of Christians and Jews in San Francisco, where he was the Western Regional representative. In 1962, they moved to Bethesda, and he became executive director of the Military Chaplains Association (MCA), from which he retired in 1978. He died in 2003.

After Eileen Justus graduated with a teaching degree from Hunter College in New York City in 1935, she worked for the Edison Electric Company as secretary to the paymaster. They would travel in an armored Packard to take the pay envelopes to the workers. She left that job in 1947 when she married, but became the executive secretary for MCA from 1962 to 1979, while her husband was the executive director.

They lived their retirement years as active members of Bethesda UMC. She accompanied him when he served as Protestant chaplain on Holland Line cruise ships from 1975 to the early 1990s, particularly during holiday times. She did a lot of crafting, particularly in ceramics, but also in water color painting. She collected shells from Atlantic coastal areas and used them to make frames for mirrors she acquired from yard sales.

Survivors include her son, John R. Justus, with whom she had lived the past decade. He was her full-time caregiver since 2006. Also surviving is a step-son, Karl Justus Jr. of Lancaster, Ohio, two grandchildren and five great-grandchildren.

Condolences may be sent to John Justus, 5832 Conway Road, Bethesda, MD 20817.

Memorial contributions may be made to the Montgomery County SPCA, P.O. Box 637, Washington Grove, MD 20880 or to Montgomery Hospice, 1355 Piccard Drive, Suite 100, Rockville, MD 20850.