With joy in her heart and great anticipation, Elsie Carr has entered into the presence of her Lord. She was 101 years old.
On August 14, 1906, Elsie was born. She grew up in a devout, close-knit Christian farm family near Sheridan. As a child, the love of God and the wonder of His creation captured her imagination and became a prominent thread in the tapestry of her life, which indelibly touched every member of her family and all of those who knew her. It was the richest of her legacies.
As a young girl in high school, Elsie excelled. She was a cheerleader, captain of the debating team, won the declamatory contest as the best speaker of her school, and was the president and valedictorian of her graduating class.
Upon graduation, Elsie taught in a one-room country school before being married on September 1, 1925 to Doy Henry Carr in Bedford. Immediately after being married, both she and her husband attended Northwest Missouri State Teachers College in Maryville. Throughout the remainder of her life, she was a homemaker, mother, and volunteer worker, supporting her husband who worked as a principal and superintendent of a consolidated grade and high school in Northwest Missouri, as owner and publisher of a newspaper in Elmo, as a civil servant working for the Federal Prison Service, and as a career military officer. Shortly after he retired from the Army as a Colonel in 1961, the moved to their dream home in Calistoga, CA. After the death of her husband in 1964, she sold her home in California and relocated near her daughter, Anita, and her husband, Hugh Crowe in Corvallis, OR in 1968.
As examples of some of the many volunteer positions Elsie held, she served as the District Republican Committee Woman in Pennsylvania, worked as a volunteer "Grey Lady," helping wounded soldiers evacuated during the Korean War to the Tokyo Hospital, taught English to Japanese students in Tokyo; and served as President of the Distaff Organization, consisting of all the wives of military and civilian personnel on the Atlantic side of the Canal Zone.
In addition, Elsie has always been very active and supportive of church activities wherever she has been. During her early life, she taught Sunday school, served as Superintendent of the Sunday school, sang in the choir and played in the piano of her church. Since coming to Corvallis, she has been a member of Calvin Presbyterian Church. As Calvin, she served as a Deacon, in many other church positions, and provided leadership and mentorship to the young girls in the church. Her Christmas team parties for the young girls of the church were legend.
Elsie’s other talents included oil, water, and pastel painting, flower arranging, the making of ceramics and bateaus, the writing of many short stories, and she won a national essay contest in her then over-90 age group with her winning letter published in a commemorative book called "Healthy Aging -- Inspirational Letters from Americans."
Throughout Elsie’s life, she lived in twelve states and also spent several years living overseas living in Germany, Japan, and the Canal Zone. Over this period, she experienced both excitement and a few narrow escapes best described with an extract from her own writings: "I’ve been tumbled out of bed during an earthquake, barely escaped from a flash flood in a National Park, watched from a block away while a tornado demolished a two-story brick building back in Missouri, saw trees uprooted and tiles blown off my house during a typhoon in Tokyo, lived through a hurricane in Panama, ridden a runaway horse, been in a car wreck where two people were critically injured, and even chased by a blue-racer snake when five years old.
Elsie had three great loves in her life -- her family, her country, and her God.
She was an extraordinary homemaker, mother, and grandmother times two. In spite of many military moves, her home was always a place of beauty, graced with pictures she had painted and decor of her own making. For her children and grandchildren, she was always there, with wonderful aromas coming from her kitchen, help with any project, and always a chapter of Heidi or Black Beauty to be read at bedtime.
Elsie was a patriot. She had been around the world and seen first-hand the enormous effort and sacrifices being made by our country to improve the condition of the worlds’ peoples, by freeing them from tyrants, setting up free societies, and providing aid to a hurting world. She decried those who sat at some, derived their only information from the evening news, and had nothing but criticism for America.
Elsie saw herself as a child of God. Hers was not a very complicated theology. She had a very pure and simple faith and a strong belief in prayer. Many people came to her and asked for prayer because it seemed that God always honored her prayers in a special way. She loved her church family as Calvin as her own and looks forward to welcoming them into heaven as time goes by. God has always been with her to give her love, joy, peace, comfort, and hope, and on a few occasions, provide the help she needed that can be called nothing short of miraculous. Even at the end she was strengthened and sustained by Christ Jesus.
Elsie passed away peacefully in her sleep on March 10, 2008 surrounded by her family. Let us celebrate! She has finished the race! May it be said well done! Be thou at peace!
Elsie was preceded in death by her husband, Doy Henry Carr; her parents Alonzo Bartlett and Tressie Barbara Davidson; brothers Percy, Gordon, and Oakley Davidson; sister Olgaretta Wildman; and by her granddaughter Karen Crowe.
Survivors include her sister Pauline Huff of Nebraska City; daughter Anita and husband Hugh Crowe of Corvallis, OR; son Eldon (Al) and wife Anna Carr of Corvallis; and five grandchildren, Steve Crowe and wife Kathy of Corvallis, Matt Carr and wife Natalya of Citrus Heights, CA, Mark Crowe and wife Judy of Sparks, NV, Cathy Avila and husband Dean of Issaquah, WA, Susan Schreiber and husband Patrick of Sammamish, WA. She has six great-grandchildren: Matt and Andy Crowe of Corvallis; Angie and Brandon Crowe of Sparks; and Derek and Elena Schreiber of Sammamish. She has two great-great granddaughters: Misty and Autumn Crowe of Sparks. She also has many nieces, nephews, and their descendants too numerous to mention, including Bud Allee, Doy Allee, and Pat Burke.
A memorial service was held March 17th at the Calvin Presbyterian Church in Corvallis. A graveside service will be conducted at a later date to be announced at Golden Gate Cemetery, San Bruno, CA. In lieu of flowers, the family suggests that memorial donations in Elsie’s name be made to Calvin Presbyterian Church Building Fund in care of McHenry Funeral Home, 206 NW 5th St., Corvallis, OR 97330. Online condolences may be extended to the family at http://www.mchenryfuneralhome.com.
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