Mrs. Elma Lonsford

Elma Gay Lonsford, age 90, passed away peacefully at her home in Mabank, Texas on October 19, 2017. Born June 1, 1927 in Gulf County, Florida to Lonnie and Grace Levins Gay, she was the eldest of three children. It was Elma’s smile and beautiful hazel eyes that attracted James Lowell Lonsford to her in the soda shop where she was working, and on June 18, 1945, the two were married in Dothan, Alabama. Jim and Elma spent the next 24 years living across the Southeastern United States while raising three kids; and in 1969 they settled in Irving, Texas for 15 years before retiring to Jim’s home in Mabank, Texas where they built a home on the family farm. She was a wife and mother, devoting her life to raising and supporting her family. Family gatherings, especially during the holidays, was dear to her heart, and she loved preparing large meals with all the trimmings and lots of desserts. The simple pleasures of life made her happy – chatting with her family, or spending the day shopping with her lifelong friends.

Elma is survived by sons James Lonnie Lonsford and wife Terry, Donald Eugene Lonsford and wife Debbie, daughter Margaret Foster and husband Kent, grandchildren; Heath Lonsford, John Lonsford, Lauren Lonsford Mills, Callie Lonsford, Kathryn Kuczaj, Teresa Sells and Marshall Kuczaj, 13 great-grandchildren, brother Troy Gay and a number of other family members and friends.

She was preceded in death by her loving husband of 68 years, James Lowell Lonsford, parents Lonnie and Grace Gay, brother Roy “Bud” Gay and granddaughter Amy McDonald.

She will be remembered fondly by all those whose hearts she touched throughout the years. “And what is it to cease breathing, but to free the breath from its restless tides, that is may rise and expand and seek God unencumbered” – the Prophet