Violetta M. Elrod was called home to the Lord after a brief stay at Coastal Hospice on the Lake in Salisbury. She was surrounded by family celebrating her rich full life.
She leaves behind a loving brother, Ed Cantwell and his spouse Valerie Birch. Her children, Paula and Joe Filgueras, Michael and Mary Lou Elrod, Ginger and the late Edwin Cintron-Medina and Jean and Michael Robinson mourn her passing. Her grandchildren, Andrea and Brad Berg, Erika and Greg Kramer and Katie and Jimi Arietta were a source of pride. Her great-grandchildren, Kaitlyn, Steve, Xander and Delaney and her great-great-grandson, Marshall brought her a great deal of joy.
There will be a private service at a later date celebrating her life, a life filled with experiences and adventures.
She was the daughter of the late Virginia Neumann-Cantwell and Paul Neumann. She raised her four children and her brother as a single parent in addition to taking care of her invalid mother. She was able to protect her mother's small estate from several predators, manage and run Cantwell's Market and repay in full all inherited debt. These trials did not stop her from pursuing her lifelong dream of working with children. With this goal in mind, she completed her Master's Degree in Education. To her joy, she was able to teach for years and then went on to do family counseling and social work. When those chapters were completed in her life, she opened a home-based day care where she was Grandmom to countless children. Her main desire in life was to model for these young people that life is to be enjoyed and trials are to be overcome with enthusiasm. Never one to sit still and with this goal in mind, she wrote the My Family Quilt book series, which chronicles the true stories of her family on the Eastern Shore from the late 1800s to the 1950s. Her hope was these stories would encourage the current generation with the knowledge that life is never over until it's over. She remarked once that when she died St Peter, after her welcome at the pearly gates, would direct her to the nursery where she would rock the little cherubs on her lap for eternity. See you in the morning, mom.