Essie Mae Wooten

Essie Mae was born in Garvin County, Oklahoma on December 29, 1929 to Bonnie and Jewel Murray with an older sister, Espie Louise and younger brother Bill. Although she was known as “Mae” to most friends today, she became a grandmother at the age of 39 everyone called her Grama Mae for the next 20 years (and even how she introduced herself). She was married on August 20, 1946 for 46 years to the neighbor boy a couple farms over after he returned from the Navy: Ollie Durwood “Durb” Wooten (who passed away 9/26/92).

Mother of 4 children, one son, “Boy” (5/10/1947) and twin girls, Brenda Louise and Linda Sue (11/24/1957) who each passed away shortly after birth. She raised Debby Mae Wooten (Lindgren).

Grandmother to Dawn Marie Lindgren Pascar (husband Rory), Darren Walter Lindgren (07/17/03), Dustin Wayne Lindgren, and Derek William Lindgren. Great Grandmother (aka GiGi) to Amelia Grace Pascar

Mae also has family in Oklahoma, including her beloved nieces and nephews.

She grew up in Oklahoma, however, once married, Durb's job took them to Texas, New Jersey, and eventually Illinois where they settled in 1958.

As a child, she farmed one acre of land to pay for school supplies, clothes and shoes and chose the most difficult crop to plant, cotton, as it would have the best return. She sewed her own clothing.

She was a hard worker, very organized but also very creative. Her variety of jobs while raising Debby included night shift at a hotel, waitress - who when the restaurant was shutting down was paid in table cloths (and the family still has those today), an ironing service, and then honed her sewing skills into a little business. She also taught herself to macramé and sold her creations at craft fairs.

Mae was very proud of her family heritage which included being a Native American as part of the Chickasaw and Cherokee nations.

She was a strong and faithful southern woman with the skill to put someone in their place and by the end of it they would thank her.

She loved being a grandparent and making her 4 grandchildren each feel special building an individual close relationship with each one. She hosted family dinner for many years and baking for others. Fond memories include some southern favorites such as country fried steak, fried okra, pecan pie, and her famous “Love cake”.

As a great grandmother, she and Amelia had a close bond with lots of laughter; she taught her how to bake, played hours of games and sometimes they were “babysitting each other.”

She was very proud of her lovely, colorful, little garden, especially of her velvet red roses and won best garden in her neighborhood on more than one occasion. She loved animals, especially cats, all the family dogs, and animals in nature.

She was baptized as a Jehovah’s Witness in 1952.

She threw baby showers and wedding showers for an uncountable number of people from her congregation. One very special thing she would do is coordinate friends to embroider, paint, or decorate squares that she would lovingly quilt together as a baby blanket for a meaningful gift.

Her faith was a large part of her life and Mae volunteered her time to study the bible with an innumerable number of people over the years and always contributed in ministry school talks.

Words cannot really sum up the essence of a person, hopefully the love from all that knew her does that best. She will be very deeply missed.

A celebration of life for Essie will be held Saturday, November 30, 2024 from 1:00 PM to 5:00 PM at Oehler Funeral Home, 2099 Miner Street, Des Plaines, IL, with the Funeral service from 2:30 - 3 PM.