Mary Wilma Baker Elliott
Published 12:00 am Tuesday, October 25, 2005
Mary Wilma Baker Elliott, 99, of Talladega and formerly of Tuscaloosa and Columbiana, died Sunday, Oct. 23, 2005, at her daughter’s home in Birmingham following a lengthy illness.
She was born in the farming community of Fourmile near Wilsonville on Aug. 8, 1906, to James Lucious and Louella Bell Baker. She graduated from Shelby County High School in 1924, received a normal degree from Jacksonville State Teachers College and later, graduated from Alabama College. She taught the primary grades in the public schools of Shelby and Tuscaloosa counties for 34 years.
She was a member of the First Baptist Church of Talladega, Delta Kappa Gamma honorary society of women educators, the Alabama Education Retirees Association and the Andrew Jackson chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution, for which she previously served as regent.
She assisted her husband, Dr. Woodrow W. Elliott, in his 10-year tenure as president of the Alabama Institute for Deaf and Blind in Talladega. She was an accomplished gardener and she pursued many interests including needlework, genealogical research and stamp and coin collecting. She leaves behind a wide circle of devoted friends and former students.
She was preceded in death by her husband of 43 years and her son, Frank Baker Elliott.
She is survived by her daughter, Mary Elliott (Buell) Cobb of Birmingham; and four grandsons, Mark Elliott and James B. &8220;Jamie&8221; Elliott of Mt. Pleasant, S.C., B. Wilson &8220;Will&8221; Cobb of Birmingham and Buell E. &8220;Tad&8221; Cobb III of Austin, Texas.
Service will be today, Oct. 26 at 11 a.m. at the First Baptist Church of Talladega, Dr. Robert Paul Jr. and the Rev. Ralph Jernigan presiding. The family will receive visitors at the church at 10 a.m. before the service. The committal service and re-interment service for Dr. Elliott will be at 3 p.m. at Pinelawn Gardens in Columbiana, Usrey Funeral Home directing.
Pallbearers will be Richard Castleberry of Talladega, J. Michael Cobb of Birmingham, Kenneth Sims of Sylacauga, Edward P. Williamson of Birmingham and her grandsons.
The family requests memorial donations be made to Elliott Colleges at the Alabama Institute for the Deaf and Blind in Talladega, the Shelby County Historical Society, Fourmile Baptist Church Cemetery Fund or the Red Door Kitchen nutrition program for the elderly in Talladega