Stories Elmo Bray told:
1. Her daddy had her drive the cows to the barn through the weed patch. (She rode a horse). Her dad told her those weeds would take some of the flies off the cattle before they got to the barn. They found out years later that the weeds were marijuana.
2. She was one of the top ten in her graduating class at Maysville
3. At the hospital 0 the nurses would tell her to just yell at them if she needed anything – she told them she raised three children and that she knew how to do that.
4. When Aunt Pansy lost Uncle Jim, her dad, John (Jim’s twin) found Aunt Pansy crying in the little bedroom off the kitchen (at their farm.) He came and sat in the rocking chair and talked to Aunt Pansy for all the time she needed to calm down.
5. She told all who had time to listen about her family. Her dad, John, and his twin brother Jim married their wives Vernie and Pansy on the same day and all four lived together as one family, each raising two daughters. They were “sister-cousins.”
6. Her 20 years working at Cameron Mutual Insurance was an asset in organization in her home. When Donna took her basket of information to the tax preparer this past week, everything – tax receipts, income, etc., - were all filed properly and ready to file.
7. Donna: I went to the bank to get her some cash last week. Before I even filled out the check, the teller asked me if I wanted it back like my mother always did – 1 $20, 1-$10, 3-$5s, and 5-$1s. Some things never change.
8. Elmo learned to drive sitting on her daddy’s lap – her feet did not reach the pedals yet. She got her license “back in the day” when you didn’t have to take a driving test. She drove ‘til age 90 without a wreck.
9. She loves the poem: “Footprints in the Sand.” She wore the footprints lapel pin. Anytime someone asked about the pin, she gave it away for them to have.
10. Written in her bible:
a. In the front of her bible she wrote: “What’s in a name? Elmo – wise protector”
b. One of her favorite verses – 2 Chron 7:14
c. Beside the verse, John 14:1, was written “Elmo”
11. Stan said: “I miss my parents, but I know where they are at.”
12. Elmo had talked for years about going to see the Lord.
13. Her husband Orville died in 2001.
14. On Tuesday before she died, Daniel sang her a song from the musical, Joseph’s Amazing Technicolor Coat. When he sang, she leaned in and listened to him.
15. She loved cooking, sewing, quilting and embroidery.
16. She never bragged about her perfect children. J (actually she did)
17. When she decided to move from her home to The Village this year, she made the decision and moved in a day.
18. At the moment of her death on Friday at 20 minutes after 10pm, Donna was home and had a pain shoot through her body at that exact moment.
19. She had three children: Wayne, Stan, and Donna.
20. She grew up in Maysville on a farm and lived there until she married Orville in 1940. She had one younger sister – Leta and two sister-cousins – Frances Ginn was one of them.
21. She and her husband farmed and she worked in Maysville at the Govt. Ag. Office. She later retired after 20 years at Cameron Mutual working as a fire underwriter.
22. She had originally been a member at Mabel Church.
