Elsie Ethel May Houston, 76

OWENS STATION - Elsie Ethel May Houston, of Owens Station, near Greenwood, died Thursday, Feb. 5, 2009, in Atlantic Shores Rehabilitation Center, Millsboro. She was 76. Ms. Houston was born in Greenwood, Sept. 20, 1932, to Philip and Harriett Dolbow Houston. She graduated from Milton High School in 1950. She was athletic, playing first string basketball as center forward and co-captain. She also sang in the women's and mixed choirs. After attending Wesley College, Ms. Houston was the first volunteer from the Church of the Brethren at Farmington, to enter the November 1954 unit of The Brethren Volunteer Service, an arm of the Civil Government Non-profit Relief Program based at New Windsor, Md. During her tenure, Ms. Houston ministered in Christian Education at the Navajo Intermountain Indian School, Salt Lake City, Utah and at Falfurrias, Texas to Spanish immigrants. Two engraved commemorative bricks lay at the base of the Camp Mardela Freedom Pole, Denton, Md., in her honor. Ms. Houston enjoyed singing in reminiscence "Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing" in the Navajo language. Ms. Houston was then employed as Managerial Secretary for the Burroughs Business Machines at Wilmington and New York City, earning a reputation in commercial circles as a speed typist. While living in Manhattan, she attended the New York Evening School of the Bible, a mission of the Providence-Barrington College of Rhode Island, taught by the renowned evangelist and author, Dr. Donald Grey Barnhouse, minister of the 10th Presbyterian Church at Philadelphia, Pa. Returning to Delaware in 1968, she was employed with the Apollo Space Program at Dover. Her name is encased in the moon capsule left at the landing by Astronaut Neil Armstrong. She then became secretary to Attorney General Richard Weir at Wilmington until she became disabled in an auto accident in 1978 after which she made her home at Owens Station until entering the Millsboro facility in November, 2008. Her hobbies were reading classical and historical novels, literary and Biblical writings, solving all types of puzzles, traveling the U.S. and Foreign Lands, genealogical research and caring for her husky, Finnish Spitz and Chihuahua dogs. Preceding her in death were her parents; brothers, Owens and Robert Houston; sisters, Elizabeth Houston, Beulah Kulmack, and Margaret Fooks. Survivors are sisters, Mary Houston and Harriett Houston both of Owens Station, Florence and husband Frederick M. McKinney of Columbia, Pa.; a special niece, Ellen Peterson of Greenwood and extended families. Graveside services will be held 2 p.m. today, Feb, 7, 2009, at St. Johnstown Cemetery, east of Greenwood. Arrangements by Fleischauer Funeral Home, Greenwood.