Regina Carol McElroy

Regina Carol McElroy 86, of Peoria, dreamed her way to Heaven in peaceful sleep Saturday Morning 8/30/2014. Born in Kansas July 19, 1928 to Phyllis (Dye) and L.R. Nickerson, she grew up in Wellsford, Havilland and Pratt and kept in touch with beloved classmates over the years at many class reunions. She married Lawrence McElroy and they had two daughters. When their partnership failed she brought her two daughters to Arizona to live near her brother who had been taken there when she was six. She worked in the Pratt County Courthouse and later for the Maricopa County Sheriff's office and was bonded as a deputy in order to handle the sensitive paperwork that was part of her job.

She married A.M. Leffew of Virginia and they had two children. Their marriage didn't last and she soon found herself the sole support of four growing children. To make ends meet, in the late sixties she went to work for Western Electric and spent the next twenty years there, driving the overhead crane that moved the giant reels of cable across the building (the first woman to do so) and working Core repair, Final Test and MP Stores. She bought a 3 bedroom block home in 1973 and raised her children there, an independent woman and mother of whom we are proud. She retired in 1989 and began learning to dance. Square, Ballroom and Country Line Dancing. With teacher/friend Pat Newell she went to local retirement centers and nursing homes to entertain the residents. A broken wrist last November slowed her up, but she will continue to dance on YouTube forever.

She survived by her brother Don and by her four children: Vickie, Edie, Agena and Bryan. Also six grandchildren: Erinna, Colleen, Braden, Bonnie, Madison and Maranda. Five great grandchildren: Mike, Brett, Austin, Tony and Conner and a new great great grandson.

In Lieu of lowers please donate a tribute to The United Way which she supported all her life and for her family's benefit, post your memory of Regina.