Mary Frances Ellzey, 91, died Friday, Feb. 27, 2009.
Services will be at 10 a.m. Saturday in First United Methodist Church with Dr. Jeff Knighton and Dr. Ed Williamson officiating. Arrangements are by Boxwell Brothers Funeral Home of Perryton.
Mary Frances was born Aug. 1, 1917, in St. Louis to Augusta Rutherford and John T. Scogin. They also would live in Atlanta, Macon, Ga., and New Orleans before finally settling in Dallas.
It was there, as a 17-year-old college sophomore at Southern Methodist University, that she met her husband for life, M. Lawrence Ellzey. They were married in 1937 and after 64 years of marriage, Lawrence died in 2001.
Immediately after their wedding, Mary Frances and Lawrence drove 400 miles to the LZ Ranch where, for a time, they raised five children in a 1,300-square-foot house on the banks of Wolf Creek.
Despite being a "city slicker" from Dallas, Mary Frances soon learned to ride a horse as well as any man working and driving cattle, "wrangling" the horse herd or barrel racing in the rodeo.
Then, moving to "the city" of Perryton, Mary Frances became a dedicated and devoted volunteer for many things and many individuals, and during the next 61 years of her life, she served her church, her community and her family tirelessly with thoughts of others' needs instead of her own. With an irrepressible spirit, hers was the gentlest of sweet souls.
Mary Frances recognized the need for the Perryton community and the many Hispanic immigrants to have a forum to interact, so she created and chartered an organization called El Centro Hispano Americano of Ochiltree County.
But perhaps her most beloved work as a volunteer was with the Panhandle Crisis Center in Perryton. From 1984 to 1997, she was an active on-call volunteer, directly answering hotline calls, serving at the shelter, teaching parenting skills to victims, transporting clients to safety, filling in at the office and assisting with grant writing. She served on the board of directors and twice served as chairman of the board, putting in more than 13,000 hours of volunteer service.
Mary Frances served her church with devotion: as a Sunday school teacher for more than 40 years, a member of the official board, singing in the choir and holding study groups for many years in her home. She also taught as a substitute in every level of Perryton schools.
In her "spare time," she was a prolific writer of six books and many articles on domestic violence, parenting, women's studies, theological interpretations and contemporary literature.
Mary Frances loved poetry and with the help of her daughter-in-law, Sharon Vinyard Ellzey, formerly of Amarillo, she published 55 poems in a book, "Windows to a Life."
She was awarded many accolades that reveal the force and nature of her life of service to others, including:
Texas Volunteer of the Year - the Texas headquarters for Aid to Battered Women; Outstanding Adult Volunteer for the Texas Panhandle; The J.C. Penney Golden Rule Award; Sunshine Peace Award - Panhandle Crisis Center; Woman of the Year - Business and Professional Woman's Club; Citizen of the Year - Perryton Ochiltree County Chamber of Commerce; Poet of Merit - The International Society of Poets.
Survivors include four sons, Lawrence Ellzey Jr. of El Paso, Tom Ellzey of Surin, Thailand, John Ellzey of Alexandria, Va., and Stephen Ellzey of Seattle; a daughter, Jill Ellzey of Perryton; a sister, Martha Mayo Johnson of Dallas; eight grandchildren; and nine great-grandchildren.
The family suggests memorials be made to the Panhandle Crisis Center, P.O. Box 502, Perryton, TX 79070.
Amarillo Globe-News, March 6, 2009
Services will be at 10 a.m. Saturday in First United Methodist Church with Dr. Jeff Knighton and Dr. Ed Williamson officiating. Arrangements are by Boxwell Brothers Funeral Home of Perryton.
Mary Frances was born Aug. 1, 1917, in St. Louis to Augusta Rutherford and John T. Scogin. They also would live in Atlanta, Macon, Ga., and New Orleans before finally settling in Dallas.
It was there, as a 17-year-old college sophomore at Southern Methodist University, that she met her husband for life, M. Lawrence Ellzey. They were married in 1937 and after 64 years of marriage, Lawrence died in 2001.
Immediately after their wedding, Mary Frances and Lawrence drove 400 miles to the LZ Ranch where, for a time, they raised five children in a 1,300-square-foot house on the banks of Wolf Creek.
Despite being a "city slicker" from Dallas, Mary Frances soon learned to ride a horse as well as any man working and driving cattle, "wrangling" the horse herd or barrel racing in the rodeo.
Then, moving to "the city" of Perryton, Mary Frances became a dedicated and devoted volunteer for many things and many individuals, and during the next 61 years of her life, she served her church, her community and her family tirelessly with thoughts of others' needs instead of her own. With an irrepressible spirit, hers was the gentlest of sweet souls.
Mary Frances recognized the need for the Perryton community and the many Hispanic immigrants to have a forum to interact, so she created and chartered an organization called El Centro Hispano Americano of Ochiltree County.
But perhaps her most beloved work as a volunteer was with the Panhandle Crisis Center in Perryton. From 1984 to 1997, she was an active on-call volunteer, directly answering hotline calls, serving at the shelter, teaching parenting skills to victims, transporting clients to safety, filling in at the office and assisting with grant writing. She served on the board of directors and twice served as chairman of the board, putting in more than 13,000 hours of volunteer service.
Mary Frances served her church with devotion: as a Sunday school teacher for more than 40 years, a member of the official board, singing in the choir and holding study groups for many years in her home. She also taught as a substitute in every level of Perryton schools.
In her "spare time," she was a prolific writer of six books and many articles on domestic violence, parenting, women's studies, theological interpretations and contemporary literature.
Mary Frances loved poetry and with the help of her daughter-in-law, Sharon Vinyard Ellzey, formerly of Amarillo, she published 55 poems in a book, "Windows to a Life."
She was awarded many accolades that reveal the force and nature of her life of service to others, including:
Texas Volunteer of the Year - the Texas headquarters for Aid to Battered Women; Outstanding Adult Volunteer for the Texas Panhandle; The J.C. Penney Golden Rule Award; Sunshine Peace Award - Panhandle Crisis Center; Woman of the Year - Business and Professional Woman's Club; Citizen of the Year - Perryton Ochiltree County Chamber of Commerce; Poet of Merit - The International Society of Poets.
Survivors include four sons, Lawrence Ellzey Jr. of El Paso, Tom Ellzey of Surin, Thailand, John Ellzey of Alexandria, Va., and Stephen Ellzey of Seattle; a daughter, Jill Ellzey of Perryton; a sister, Martha Mayo Johnson of Dallas; eight grandchildren; and nine great-grandchildren.
The family suggests memorials be made to the Panhandle Crisis Center, P.O. Box 502, Perryton, TX 79070.
Amarillo Globe-News, March 6, 2009
Mary Frances Ellzey, 91, died Friday, Feb. 27, 2009.
Services will be at 10 a.m. Saturday in First United Methodist Church with Dr. Jeff Knighton and Dr. Ed Williamson officiating. Arrangements are by Boxwell Brothers Funeral Home of Perryton.
Mary Frances was born Aug. 1, 1917, in St. Louis to Augusta Rutherford and John T. Scogin. They also would live in Atlanta, Macon, Ga., and New Orleans before finally settling in Dallas.
It was there, as a 17-year-old college sophomore at Southern Methodist University, that she met her husband for life, M. Lawrence Ellzey. They were married in 1937 and after 64 years of marriage, Lawrence died in 2001.
Immediately after their wedding, Mary Frances and Lawrence drove 400 miles to the LZ Ranch where, for a time, they raised five children in a 1,300-square-foot house on the banks of Wolf Creek.
Despite being a "city slicker" from Dallas, Mary Frances soon learned to ride a horse as well as any man working and driving cattle, "wrangling" the horse herd or barrel racing in the rodeo.
Then, moving to "the city" of Perryton, Mary Frances became a dedicated and devoted volunteer for many things and many individuals, and during the next 61 years of her life, she served her church, her community and her family tirelessly with thoughts of others' needs instead of her own. With an irrepressible spirit, hers was the gentlest of sweet souls.
Mary Frances recognized the need for the Perryton community and the many Hispanic immigrants to have a forum to interact, so she created and chartered an organization called El Centro Hispano Americano of Ochiltree County.
But perhaps her most beloved work as a volunteer was with the Panhandle Crisis Center in Perryton. From 1984 to 1997, she was an active on-call volunteer, directly answering hotline calls, serving at the shelter, teaching parenting skills to victims, transporting clients to safety, filling in at the office and assisting with grant writing. She served on the board of directors and twice served as chairman of the board, putting in more than 13,000 hours of volunteer service.
Mary Frances served her church with devotion: as a Sunday school teacher for more than 40 years, a member of the official board, singing in the choir and holding study groups for many years in her home. She also taught as a substitute in every level of Perryton schools.
In her "spare time," she was a prolific writer of six books and many articles on domestic violence, parenting, women's studies, theological interpretations and contemporary literature.
Mary Frances loved poetry and with the help of her daughter-in-law, Sharon Vinyard Ellzey, formerly of Amarillo, she published 55 poems in a book, "Windows to a Life."
She was awarded many accolades that reveal the force and nature of her life of service to others, including:
Texas Volunteer of the Year - the Texas headquarters for Aid to Battered Women; Outstanding Adult Volunteer for the Texas Panhandle; The J.C. Penney Golden Rule Award; Sunshine Peace Award - Panhandle Crisis Center; Woman of the Year - Business and Professional Woman's Club; Citizen of the Year - Perryton Ochiltree County Chamber of Commerce; Poet of Merit - The International Society of Poets.
Survivors include four sons, Lawrence Ellzey Jr. of El Paso, Tom Ellzey of Surin, Thailand, John Ellzey of Alexandria, Va., and Stephen Ellzey of Seattle; a daughter, Jill Ellzey of Perryton; a sister, Martha Mayo Johnson of Dallas; eight grandchildren; and nine great-grandchildren.
The family suggests memorials be made to the Panhandle Crisis Center, P.O. Box 502, Perryton, TX 79070.
Amarillo Globe-News, March 6, 2009
Services will be at 10 a.m. Saturday in First United Methodist Church with Dr. Jeff Knighton and Dr. Ed Williamson officiating. Arrangements are by Boxwell Brothers Funeral Home of Perryton.
Mary Frances was born Aug. 1, 1917, in St. Louis to Augusta Rutherford and John T. Scogin. They also would live in Atlanta, Macon, Ga., and New Orleans before finally settling in Dallas.
It was there, as a 17-year-old college sophomore at Southern Methodist University, that she met her husband for life, M. Lawrence Ellzey. They were married in 1937 and after 64 years of marriage, Lawrence died in 2001.
Immediately after their wedding, Mary Frances and Lawrence drove 400 miles to the LZ Ranch where, for a time, they raised five children in a 1,300-square-foot house on the banks of Wolf Creek.
Despite being a "city slicker" from Dallas, Mary Frances soon learned to ride a horse as well as any man working and driving cattle, "wrangling" the horse herd or barrel racing in the rodeo.
Then, moving to "the city" of Perryton, Mary Frances became a dedicated and devoted volunteer for many things and many individuals, and during the next 61 years of her life, she served her church, her community and her family tirelessly with thoughts of others' needs instead of her own. With an irrepressible spirit, hers was the gentlest of sweet souls.
Mary Frances recognized the need for the Perryton community and the many Hispanic immigrants to have a forum to interact, so she created and chartered an organization called El Centro Hispano Americano of Ochiltree County.
But perhaps her most beloved work as a volunteer was with the Panhandle Crisis Center in Perryton. From 1984 to 1997, she was an active on-call volunteer, directly answering hotline calls, serving at the shelter, teaching parenting skills to victims, transporting clients to safety, filling in at the office and assisting with grant writing. She served on the board of directors and twice served as chairman of the board, putting in more than 13,000 hours of volunteer service.
Mary Frances served her church with devotion: as a Sunday school teacher for more than 40 years, a member of the official board, singing in the choir and holding study groups for many years in her home. She also taught as a substitute in every level of Perryton schools.
In her "spare time," she was a prolific writer of six books and many articles on domestic violence, parenting, women's studies, theological interpretations and contemporary literature.
Mary Frances loved poetry and with the help of her daughter-in-law, Sharon Vinyard Ellzey, formerly of Amarillo, she published 55 poems in a book, "Windows to a Life."
She was awarded many accolades that reveal the force and nature of her life of service to others, including:
Texas Volunteer of the Year - the Texas headquarters for Aid to Battered Women; Outstanding Adult Volunteer for the Texas Panhandle; The J.C. Penney Golden Rule Award; Sunshine Peace Award - Panhandle Crisis Center; Woman of the Year - Business and Professional Woman's Club; Citizen of the Year - Perryton Ochiltree County Chamber of Commerce; Poet of Merit - The International Society of Poets.
Survivors include four sons, Lawrence Ellzey Jr. of El Paso, Tom Ellzey of Surin, Thailand, John Ellzey of Alexandria, Va., and Stephen Ellzey of Seattle; a daughter, Jill Ellzey of Perryton; a sister, Martha Mayo Johnson of Dallas; eight grandchildren; and nine great-grandchildren.
The family suggests memorials be made to the Panhandle Crisis Center, P.O. Box 502, Perryton, TX 79070.
Amarillo Globe-News, March 6, 2009
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