Tuesday, February 13, 2001

Colorado City man’s death at 103 ends marriage of 81 years By Larry Zelisko
Reporter-News Staff Writer

COLORADO CITY — L.B. “Lewis” Elliott’s death Saturday parted a marriage of 81
years.

Although Mr. Elliott was known for many things — museum board president, Lions
Club founder, Mason and businessman — it was his devotion to his wife,
Elizabeth, that stood out in his 103-year life.

“They were inseparable,” said Colorado City Mayor Jim Baum. “You’d see them
everywhere together until about three years ago. They’d go to Lions Club
together, to plays at the Playhouse together and, of course, to church
together.”

When Elizabeth Elliott reached the point in 1999 when she could no longer live
at home, Lewis Elliott would visit her every day at Valley Fair Lodge.

Mrs. Elliott turned 101 at the nursing home Monday. She is hard of hearing and
doesn’t speak much, but that didn’t matter to Mr. Elliott, their daughter
Frances Godwin said.

“Every day I’d take him up there and he would hold her hand and say, ‘I love
you,’” she said.

They were married June 22, 1919, at her home in Loraine. On their 75th wedding
anniversary in 1994, Mrs. Elliott said the secret to their long, happy
marriage was to “let each other live their own life.”

Services for Lewis Elliott will be at 2:30 p.m. Thursday at First United
Methodist Church. Visitation will be 6-8 p.m. Wednesday at Kiker-Seale Funeral
Home, 338 Locust.

At 103, Mr. Elliott was still mentally sharp, Baum said.

Robert Brookshear, president of Mitchell County Abstract Co., regularly called
Mr. Elliott for advice. Mr. Elliott, who is Brookshear’s wife’s grandfather,
began work as an abstractor in 1920 and was the company’s chief executive
officer.

“I called last week to ask him where something was,” Brookshear said, “and not
only did he know what filing cabinet it was in, he told me what drawer and
what folder to look in.”

Mr. Elliott still served as president of the Heart of West Texas Museum board.
Once at a meeting, Brookshear said, Mr. Elliott looked like he was asleep when
someone tried to get something passed. Mr. Elliott interrupted and said, “I
think if you’ll go back to the minutes, you’ll see we turned this down
before.”

Sure enough, the board had, which put an end to the discussion, he said.

“He never said you were wrong about something; he’d say ‘I think you’d better
check this,’” Brookshear said.

Elliott was born in Sweetwater and served in the U.S. Army during World War I.
He didn’t go overseas, but by the time he left the Army in 1919, he was an
expert typist.

He used those typing skills throughout his life. E-mail became one of his
favorite means of communication.

The Elliotts moved to Colorado City in 1920 and he joined Judge C.H. Earnest
in the abstract business. He later bought the company. In 1922 he established
the Elliott Insurance Agency, which became Elliott-Godwin Insurance. In 1934,
he organized the Colorado City Savings and Loan Association and retired as
president in 1972.

He was a founder of the local Lions Club and the American Legion Post. His
Masonic honors are numerous.

“Of all the people I’ve known and met over the years, I wouldn’t trade him for
any of them,” Mrs. Elliott said in 1994.
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