Obituary of Patsy Elwanda Carson Elmore

Patsy Elwanda Carson Elmore, age 85, long-time Ardmore resident and public school teacher, passed from this life at Oklahoma City on Thursday, February 25, 2016. Memorial services will be held at 10:00 am, Thursday, March 3, 2016, in The Chapel at Griffin-Hillcrest, Ardmore, Okla. Born on November 5, 1930, to Charles Wilmer “Cudge” Carson and Willie Velma Odessa Holman Carson at Holliday, Texas. She grew up surrounded by her loving, Christian family during the Great Depression, a farm girl who knew how to work hard. Patsy chopped cotton, picked beans and peas, milked cows and knew how to handle horses. Her family sang gospel songs together and worshipped regularly among Churches of Christ. She was baptized into Christ at an early age. Patsy was also a fine student, graduating with honors from Holliday High School in 1947 where she was also Homecoming Queen. After business college, she went to work. She met Glenn Elmore at a camp meeting. Dazzled by this brown-eyed beauty with the down-to-earth ways and taken immediately to her family’s heart, he “kept the road hot” between Ardmore and Wichita Falls, by then the Carsons’ home. Patsy and Glenn married June 21, 1951, making their home in Ardmore throughout their 59 years together. To their union were born three sons – Glenn, Jr., Randall Lane and Timothy Charles. They also gladly welcomed foster children at different times through the years – Margie, Yvonne, Marilyn and Sue, and Lynn. While working as a secretary at Sinclair Oil very early in their marriage, she heard of an opening for a draftsman at Samedan Oil Corporation for which she knew her husband was well suited, eventuating in his 40-year career at another Noble enterprise, the Samuel Roberts Noble Foundation. Meanwhile, back at home, Patsy nurtured and taught her boys, equipping them with the skills they needed to live honorably and well along with a can-do attitude, and devoted herself to building up her family. She was a legendary “baseball mom” powerfully supporting her sons’ teams. She was a fine seamstress, a tremendous cook, and a savvy and discerning coupon shopper whose careful acumen served not only her own family throughout her life, but also her church, numerous childrens’ homes and other public and private institutions supporting those in need. In the mid-1960s, she began college – commuting to Murray State at Tishomingo and then to Southeastern State at Durant, where she achieved her Bachelors in Education with honors and later her Masters and many hours toward a Doctorate. She taught in Ardmore Public Schools for 26 years – first at Jefferson Elementary where she taught many Oklahoma first-graders to read, yes – but also to sing with her yearly “Kids of Song,” comprised of her students. She wanted them to learn to fly – to learn what they needed to know, to believe in themselves -- and to confidently take on the world. She also taught Third Grade for a time at Charles Evans Elementary. As grandparents, Patsy and Glenn lived to lift up their sons’ families to all that was good, honorable, loving and strong. Their place – on seven acres in northeast Ardmore – became a wondrous second home to each of their grandchildren and to many others both young and old – a house filled with song, laughter and with the presence of the Lord. She was preceded in death by her parents, and by husband Glenn Elmore, sister Debra Carson and brothers D.S. and Deril Carson. Patsy is survived by her sons and their families – Tom and wife Karen, of Moore, Oklahoma; Randy and wife Diana of Ardmore; and Tim and wife Lana of Purcell, Oklahoma – as well as grandchildren Rebecca, Glenn III, Erin, Landon and wife Leanna, Travis and wife Rachel, Tad and Katy and eight great-grandchildren. She is also survived by two sisters, Peggy Morris of Dallas, Texas and Charlene Eddleman of Lubbock, Texas.