© by Jeanette Perrin Coaly

Courtesy of Harmon County Funeral Home

Mary Ellen Crenshaw

© Harmon County Funeral Home

Submitted by: Jo Aguirre

Mary Ellen Crenshaw, 89, of Hollis, Oklahoma passed away Wednesday, February 22, 2012 at Harmon Memorial Hospital, in Hollis.

Mrs. Crenshaw was born August 20, 1922 in Udall, KS to Lloyd William and Thelma Rissa (Beeman) Claypool. She was saved in the First Baptist Church of Winfield, KS during a revival at the age of sixteen. She has remained a First Baptist all her life. Mary Ellen worked as a filing clerk for the Boeing Airplane Company in Wichita, KS during World War II. There she met Elmo Crenshaw who was from Oklahoma. They dated for three months and were married September 26, 1942 in Oklahoma City, OK by Sam W. Scantlan, author of a book of poems “Through Gods Revolving Door”. Mary Ellen had his book of poems on her bookshelf. She decided to have Bro. Sam marry them after learning he lived in the Oklahoma City area. They moved to Hollis, OK in 1945.

Mary Ellen and Elmo owned and operated The Crenshaw Welding and Air Conditioning Shop for over fifty years at 1219 East Broadway in Hollis, OK. She worked in several Harmon County Businesses: Roy Haines Tag Agency, across the street from the Post Office, then for Claude Bell Tax Assessor’s office in the court house until his term expired and also as a Harmon County Precinct Inspector for over thirty years. She has volunteered at Colonial Manor II Nursing Home for many years.

Mary Ellen is survived by her son, Elmo Dean Crenshaw of Hollis; two grandchildren, Amber Crenshaw Stribling and husband Stephen of Denver, CO and Brent Crenshaw and wife Denise of Blanchard, OK; two step-grandchildren, W. J. Hudspeth of Hollis, OK and Dede Cizek of Elgin, OK; two great grandchildren, Kadi Cottle and husband Eli of Twentynine Palms, CA and Kendal Crenshaw of Blanchard, OK; five step-great grandchildren, B. J. and Jacob Hudspeth, Summer, Ricky, and Cole Lee; cousin, Carolyn Verbeck and her husband Charles of Winfield, KS; five nieces, Thelda Mayer, Marsha Dohrendorf, Marie McNulty, Helen Ann Stanswell, and Janet Wells; five nephews, Gene Wells, Kenneth McPherson, Edward Crenshaw, Larry Crenshaw, and Chris Crenshaw along with many other relatives and friends.

Mrs. Crenshaw was preceded in death by her husband of fifty-four years, Elmo Crenshaw in 1996; her mother Thelma Lawson in 1997; her father, Lloyd Claypool in 1969; two brothers, Junior Beeman Claypool and Billy Dean Claypool, when they were both around nine years old; three sisters, Beulah Sophie Heaton, Melba Marie Talsma, and Velma May Wells.

Funeral Services for Mary Ellen will be 2:00 P.M. Friday, February 24, 2012 at the First Baptist Church in Hollis, OK with Pastor Jim Westmoreland officiating.

Interment will be at Fairmount Cemetery in Hollis, OK. Services are under the direction of Harmon County Funeral Home of Hollis.

The family request in Lieu of Flowers Memorials may be made to the Cancer Research, % Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation, 825 Northeast 13th Street, Oklahoma City, OK 73104.

Online tributes may be made to the family at www.HarmonCountyFuneral.com