Mildred Ollie Ellenbarger

After more than a century of life on Earth, Mildred Ollie Acree Ellenbarger passed away peacefully in her sleep on Friday, May 26th, 2023, in Weatherford, Texas to move onto her heavenly home.

Mildred’s life began in the plains of West Texas in Rochester when she was born as the first daughter of Leonard and Kitty Acree and baby sister to her late brothers C.L. and Leo Burden. She'd then quickly become a big sister to Wilma Faye. Not long after, Mildred’s family traded their life in Haskell County for a new one right here in Parker County. It’s here where she would go on to meet her late husband Loyd Ellenbarger while they both attended school in Poolville. After their marriage in 1941, the couple went on to share 59 years together until Loyd’s passing in 2000.

For many of us, it’s almost unfathomable to imagine the world that Mildred grew up in as a child and all of the history that formed the backdrop to her early life. Her most formative childhood years were marked by the Great Depression and the Dust Bowl. Franklin D. Roosevelt, her favorite president of the 17 that she saw elected in her lifetime, brought new roads and electricity to the people of Poolville, Texas with his New Deal program while she was still a teenager. She remembered riding in wagons to Weatherford where electric cars now zoom down the interstate. Historical events rocked her world again when she and Loyd would be summoned to the Golden Coast where she held a job in an Oakland, California department store’s mail room while he was stationed on a Navy ship in the Asia-Pacific region during World War II.

After their stint on the West Coast, Mildred and Loyd returned home to Poolville, Texas where they began planting deep roots that would help form not only the foundation of their family but also their local community as well. And while Mildred witnessed plenty of history in her hundred years, she might have said that the most important and transformative moments of her life would be when she became a mother and beloved Granny and Great Granny to her two children Mark and Kristie Ellenbarger and her five grandchildren and nine great grandchildren. Her devotion to her family and her faith were noticed and admired everywhere she went by everyone she touched.

While Mildred was known to keep an impeccable home and a constant flow of delicious dishes on the table, one should never overlook that she was also as tough of a ranch hand as any of the men for miles and miles and miles. She loved fishing on the Home Place and had a reputation for being quite the sharpshooter. She slept with a pistol in her bedside drawer just in case any armadillos and raccoons dared to take more than two steps into her immaculate backyard. As her children and grandchildren grew up and started to hunt, they could always rely on her to help them hoist a deer over the limb of her biggest pecan tree to prepare it for butchering or to pluck and cook a neighborhood turkey in time for a Thanksgiving lunch. She passed down all of her hard-earned knowledge of how to live off the land while still never letting a curl fall out of place.

Beyond Thanksgiving and all of the countless holiday meals she hosted, a visit to Granny’s house was always a reason to get excited. She made each grandkid their special breakfast order to accompany Saturday morning cartoons, stored their four-wheelers for safe keeping in her barn, protected them from snakes catching rays on her sidewalk with a garden hoe, hosted tea parties in a hollowed-out grapevine bush down by the creek and read story books to them while swinging on the hammock in her yard. With its crepe myrtles, peach, pecan and apricot trees, lush elephant ears and hibiscus flowers the size of saucers, Mildred’s yard felt like an oasis for her family and friends to escape the heat of Texas summers. She had a remarkable green thumb and never tired of putting it to use to landscape her yard. Even in her mid-90s, you could pull up in her driveway and catch her mowing her multiple acre yard on a zero-turn mower. If homemaking was an Olympic sport, she’d have won the gold medal year after year.

But much of our lives are spent outside of the home and Mildred’s was no different. Even though she adored the privacy and simple comforts of living in a small town in the country, Mildred also loved to travel. When Mark and Kristie competed in basketball tournaments around the state, Mildred would hit the road to support them from Krum to Austin. Family trips with her kids took her on adventures up and down the winding mountain roads of the Rocky Mountains. In the 1980s, she and her girlfriends took a cruise from a port in French Canada down to the bustling streets of New York City. On another occasion, she flew across the Atlantic to visit the rolling green hills of Ireland from which her ancestors first lived. For a woman born in a tiny West Texas town, she had a giant sense of adventure and never feared diving headfirst into uncharted territories.

Mildred was also known for her intelligence and imagination. She was a voracious reader of all kinds of works. Every morning she would wake up and read from the Bible with a cup of hot black coffee and a slice of toast. After that, she’d blaze through all the news stories in the Weatherford Democrat and the Star-Telegram. In the afternoons, you’d find her on her couch turning the pages of one of the hundreds—if not thousands—of books that she read in her time. Once she got her hands on a computer, she’d sit and play Solitaire and Mahjong to keep her mind in tip top shape. Her house was decked out in several of her own artworks from when she took oil painting lessons. She would paint lush landscape scenes with deer migrating across snowy fields or fall foliage or horse drawn wagons making their way across a prairie while silhouetted by a sweeping sunset. She was also a documentarian. As technology evolved, she’d adopt the latest camera of the day and kept a museum of photos in her cabinets documenting all of her loved ones.

Though, brownie film cameras and oil canvases were much too small of formats to contain her creativity. In the late 80s, she took on the task of designing her home on Pine Road. She weighed in on the blueprints to create one of the most beautiful houses Poolville had ever seen with its vaulted ceilings, arched windows and skylights, open plan kitchen and towering brick fireplace where Christmas stockings would hang over a log fire. Her perfectly manicured front porch and back patio were where she spent countless afternoons watching hummingbirds and whistling back at all the birds that flocked to her home as often as her friends and family. Her home was, in many ways, a direct reflection of who she was as an individual.

Mildred was certainly no stranger to fun. She was a mean bowler and would drive to Fort Worth to play in a bowling league with her friends. She loved going to the theater and saw many shows at Casa Mañana. She loved playing cards and hosted Bridge parties at her house or would challenge her grandkids in an intense game of Speed. At Christmas Eve, everyone knew better than to sit next to Granny or else she’d sneak a peek at your dominoes to make sure she was the winner. She also had a remarkable sense of humor. In the 90s when baggy shorts were in style, you’d better be careful paying her a visit or she’d pants you and your friends in the blink of an eye. You were always in for a joyful time when you visited Mildred.

And while today feels more bittersweet than joyful, it’s an important day to reflect on all of the joy that she brought us and the eternal joy she’ll experience after moving onto the next chapter when she’s reunited with God. Mildred’s faith was unwavering. She was a devoted Christian throughout her entire life and a leader in the Poolville Church of Christ. Many people near and far were directly impacted by her generosity. Whether a prayer, a donation or a home cooked meal, Mildred’s compassionate service touched so many lives beyond her family’s when they were in need. She lived her life every day with the goal of following Jesus’s footsteps and maintaining a steadfast moral compass that inspired members of her church and community. With such a strong faith, she was peaceful in her final days knowing that she spent her life living for what was promised to her in the Bible and would be welcomed home in the end.

And while Mildred’s body may lay to rest, her spirit is what we’ll carry with us each day forevermore. She is with us in her family that she is survived by. Her sister Wilma Fe. Her son Mark. Her daughter Kristie. Her grandchildren Cody, Tyler, Trace, Kendall and Hunter. Her great grandchildren Luke, Elle, Addi, Hayes, Blake, Noah, Piper, Jaxon and Jett. She is with us in every oil painting of a great Texas landscape. She’s with us in every warm peach cobbler pulled out of the oven. She’s with us in every fish reeled out of the water. She’s with us on every vacation where memories are made. She’s with us in every prayer said in private. She’s with us in the lessons she taught us and the hugs she gave us. Mildred will always be the lasso that ties our family and friendships together and the Lone Star shining bright over everyone that ever knew her. We are forever grateful and indebted to her for showing us all how to live brave, long and beautiful lives filled with joy and kindness. Mildred Ollie Acree Ellenbarger is with us forever and ever. Amen.

A graveside service will be held at 10:00 a.m., Thursday, June 1, 2023, at the Poolville Cemetery, in Poolville, Texas.

The visitation is scheduled from 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m., Wednesday, May 31, 2023, at Galbreaith Pickard Funeral Chapel, 913 North Elm Street, Weatherford, Texas 76086.