Mrs. Sylvia Marie Perkins Ott

Sylvia Marie Perkins Ott, 91 years of age, passed away peacefully on Monday, the 14th of May 2012. Marie was born in Canaan, Connecticut, on the 18th of January 1921, to Sylvia and Theron Perkins. She was the oldest of three daughters. After graduating from Mt. Holyoke College in 1942, she traveled by train to California in 1943 to marry her high school sweetheart, Ellsworth "Mel" Alan Ott, who was serving in the Army Air Corp. They were married 57 years until his death in 2000. After the war, they ran a mountain top resort on the Mohawk Trail in western Massachusetts for four years. In 1950, they decided to move to California with their first born son. After stopping in Fort Worth on the way to visit friends, they decided to settle in Texas and stayed for 61 years. A second son was born in 1952. Marie was the biggest fan of her sons for whom she had great expectations and from whom she demanded their best effort. After raising her sons, she worked as a volunteer teaching third graders in the Fort Worth school system. She and Mel lived in Fort Worth until he retired in 1983. They then moved to April Sound on Lake Conroe where they enjoyed the lake as well as being avid golfers. When Mel died in 2000, Marie moved to the Hallmark in Houston where she continued an active lifestyle, playing bridge and even going to the Museum of Fine Arts in the final week of her life. Everyone loved Marie. She was always a participant and willing to try new things. She got her first computer at age 81 and was soon emailing friends and family all over the country. She was known to her family as the "energizer bunny." She will be remembered for her unlimited kindness to others, her boundless optimism, and her constant enthusiasm for life during her 91 years. Marie is preceded in death by her parents, husband, and one sister. She is survived by her two sons, David Alan Ott and wife Pam, and Dana Bruce Ott and his companion Wendy Oatis. She is also survived by two grandchildren, Elizabeth Ott Herndon, and husband Rogers Herndon and David Alan Ott, Jr. and wife Tennessee. In addition, she is survived by six great grandchildren: Lola Marie Herndon, Charlotte Elizabeth Herndon, Frances Ferguson Herndon, Emma Ellsworth Ott, Anne Whittenburg Ott, and William Owen Ott. She also leaves her sister, Ann Perkins Ott of Williamstown, and her family. The family wishes to thank the employees and residents of the Hallmark for making the last years of her life meaningful and content. They would also like to thank the doctors and nurses at St. Luke's Episcopal Hospital and Houston Hospice for their compassionate end of life care. There will be a private memorial to her life at the Hallmark in Houston, Texas. In lieu of customary remembrances, contributions in memory of Marie may be directed to the charity of one's choice.