Just a few months before her 100th birthday, Ollie Virginia Martin McElyea of Huntsville, Alabama passed away on November 10, 2015, at Whitesburg Gardens Nursing Home, at age 99.
Mrs. McElyea was born on February 8, 1916 in Sheffield, Alabama. She later moved with her parents to Madison, Alabama and then to Huntsville where she married and raised her family.
A loving wife, mother, and grandmother, Mrs. McElyea was known for her strong Christian faith and family values. These were evident in her everyday life, as well as in business as co-owner and manager of a neighborhood grocery store for a number of years. She loved West Huntsville Baptist Church and was active there until poor health prevented her attending. She was the oldest living member there. She also loved flowers, fishing, sacred music, and pretty things. Her home was always filled with unique items she had collected through the years. She especially loved babies and was always the one called upon to help with newborns in the family and neighborhood.
Mrs. McElyea was preceded in death by her husband, Rube Lee McElyea, her parents, Wister Lee Martin and Ada Kent Martin, one child, Barbara Ann McElyea, and a sister, Ira Martin Harrison.
She is survived by daughters, Ellen Daniel and Dorothy Daniel; son, Donald Lee McElyea and wife, Sue; grandchildren, Ty Daniel, Gina Daniel, Shawn Daniel, Tonya Daniel Bergman, Alan McElyea, and Lorri McElyea Bloom; nine great-grandchildren, and four great-great grandchildren.
Visitation will be at West Huntsville Baptist Church, 2211 Triana Blvd, from 1 to 2 p.m. Friday, November 13, with the service following at 2. Rev. Scott Gossett will officiate. Burial will be in Maple Hill Cemetery.
Memorials may be made to West Huntsville Baptist Church.
