Ella Archer

Service for Ella Mae Day Archer, of Cleburne will be held at 2:00 P.M., Wednesday, January 3, 2024, in the Crosier-Pearson Cleburne Chapel with Reverend Charles Payne officiating and Donnie Williams assisting. Inurnment will follow in Rosehill Cemetery. Visitation will be 5:00-7:00 P.M., Tuesday, January 2, 2024, at the funeral home. Serving as pallbearers are Rodney Aldridge, Al Archer, Gary Morris, Misty Haddock, Crystal Williams, Audra Valamides, and April Willingham.

Ella Mae Archer passed away Sunday, December 10, 2023, in Keene, Texas, after spending her last days surrounded by loved ones and after a long full life of 106 years. She greatly enjoyed her last birthday party that was attended by hundreds of friends, relatives and local officials and featured as front-page news.

Ella Mae was born on October 5, 1917, to Charles and Ellie (Billings) Day of Kopperl, Texas. Her birth mother passed away while Ella Mae was still a child and her father remarried Myrtle Hornbuckle, who was a great stepmother. She graduated from Kopperl High School and enjoyed playing basketball there. She married Herbert Fredrick Archer on November 5, 1938, and they began their life together on the Davis ranch with Herbert as the ranch foreman and Ella Mae cooking. They had their first two children and then their life was interrupted by World War II, as Herbert went off to serve in the Navy. Ella Mae made a couple of trips via train from Kopperl to the Pacific coast to see her husband before he was deployed. A few years after Herbert’s return they moved to Cleburne and Herbert would go to work for the railroads. Ella Mae went to work for Lorch-Westway as a seamstress and worked there for over 20 years before retiring. After retirement they went camping, fishing, and traveled. They mainly camped at Lake Whitney, but also enjoyed trips to Colorado. Their trip of a lifetime was to the Holy Land that they greatly enjoyed. She was a member of Calvary Baptist Church in Cleburne.

She was preceded in death by her parents, Charles & Ellie; her stepmother, Myrtle; all her brothers and sister, Allen, Albert, Raymond, E.B., Tom, and Faye; her husband, Herbert; and daughter, Nature; grandsons, Ronald Aldridge and Larry Morris.

Ella Mae is survived by her children, Albert and wife, Beverly of Cleburne; daughter, Charlotte and Wes Johnson of Godley, and daughter, Sonya and husband, Phil Williams of Arlington; nine grandchildren; sixteen great-grandchildren; and five great-great-grandchildren.

The family would like to give special thanks to Wings Over Texas Hospice and Town Hall Estates, Keene.

Memorials may be made to: Calvary Baptist Church, 700 Woodard Ave., Cleburne, Tx 76033.