Elaine C. Elliott

Elaine attended Spartanburg Junior College and the University of South Carolina. After graduation from USC with a BA, she earned her MAT in 1975. She began her teaching career at North High School, then taught at Lexington High School from 1978-2000. She took great pride in knowing her teaching curriculum, world, and US history. Her students recognized her love for her subjects. Among her strategies was to have her students journal connections from today with the histories they had studied. Among her peers, she never shied away from taking the lead in planning the direction of instruction. Above all, her students always knew she loved them.

Elaine was a high school cheer coach for 20 years at both North and Lexington High Schools. She was the spirit coordinator and cheer coach at the University of South Carolina. Her Lexington High School cheerleading teams won 3 state coed championships in 1991, 1992, and 1993 sponsored by the SCCCA. She received the SC Cheer Coaches Association Lifetime Achievement Award in 2012. She was inducted into the SCACA Hall of Fame, as well as Lexington High School Hall of Fame in 2022.

Elaine was the founding president of the SCCCA and served on the executive board. As president, she was instrumental in cheerleading being recognized as a sport by the SCHSL and being incorporated into the SCACA. Elaine was a safety judge for SC state competition since 1994. She had 31 years of experience judging cheer on the local level and from 1991-2020 was the AACCA safety instructor at the state level. As the SCHSL arbiter director for cheer since 2015, her responsibility was to assign all cheer officials to sanctioned SCHSL cheer competitions. Prior to this position, she assigned judges for all high school cheer events through the SCCCA. She lived her life with the same convictions as she taught her students. If she was passionate about something, she gave it her all.

As much as she loved cheer, world history was her favorite subject. When we made trips to other parts of the world, she had a thirst to learn even more. Always a resource for historical information, she loved to read, taking time in the mornings and late at night. The Olympics was always a must for her, especially figure skating. Loving her grandson, having the time to be there holding him, rocking him to sleep brought the greatest peace and comfort. Watching him grow, and to hear him call her Gammie brought joy.

She is survived by her husband, Ronnie Elliott; her son, Jackson and his wife, Tiffany; grandson, Greyson; brother, Jerry Cook; and sister, Jackie Frost.

A visitation will be held Tuesday, December 3, 2024 from 12:00 PM to 1:00 PM at Lexington United Methodist Church, 309 East Main Street, Lexington, South Carolina 29072, with a funeral service to follow at 1:00 PM. Burial will take place after the services at Woodridge Memorial Park, 138 Corley Mill Road, Lexington, South Carolina 29072.

Memorial contributions may be made to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital (https://www.stjude.org/donate/) or to The American Cancer Society (http://americancancersociety.org/donate).