Elsie R. Whittington

BOSSIER CITY, LA - Services for Elsie Rhea Leggett Whittington, 102, will be 11:30 a.m. Wednesday, July 22, 2015 at Rose-Neath Funeral Home in Bossier City, LA. Officiating will be Rev. Cheryl Nelson, assisted by Dr. Danny Gleason, pastor of Benton United Methodist Church. Visitation will be prior to the service on Wednesday, beginning at 10 a.m. Interment will be private. Elsie was born in Zwolle, LA on June 17, 1913 and passed away July 20, 2015 in Bossier City, LA. She was the only child of Benjamin and Blanche Modlin Leggett. On November 17, 1934, she married her husband of 64 years, Ivan W. "Buddy" Whittington, Jr. The couple moved to a Bossier Parish farm in 1937, where the city girl learned to live the Depression Era life as a farmer's wife. She embraced it. Elsie raised three children and helped raise her grandchildren and some of her great grandchildren. She dealt out discipline when necessary and hugs and kisses at every opportunity. The cookie jar was always full. She endured the hard times, rejoiced in the good ones, and did it with grace and love, and without complaint. Elsie was a member of Benton United Methodist Church where she was a faithful member of the Eva Smith Sunday School class and the United Methodist Women, until her age made it no longer possible. Elsie is preceded in death by her husband and granddaughter, Midge Brooks Vreeland. She is survived by her son, D. Ross Whittington and wife, Carolyn of Benton, LA; daughters, Pat Whittington Brooks of Bossier City, LA and Sandra Whittington Upshaw and husband, Billy of Plain Dealing, LA; grandchildren, Clark, Greg and Doug Whittington, Glen Baldwin, Donna Osten, Lisa, Ben and Kix Brooks and 15 great grandchildren. Pallbearers will be her grandsons. The family would like to thank Shreveport-Bossier Hospice, especially nurses, Debbie Williams and Ann Robinson, and the sitters with Peggy Williams Sitting Service. The family suggests memorials to the Benton United Methodist Church Building Fund or to the donor\'s charity of choice. Elsie outlived most all of her generation of family and friends. As she herself said "I've had a good life". Her passing will leave a large void in the lives of her multi-generational family.