Elcyne Elizabeth Roberts of Ridgeland, Mississippi May 4, 1928 – February 22, 2019 Elcyne Elizabeth Roberts April 5, 1928 – February 22, 2019 Elcyne Elizabeth Roberts, 90, passed away Friday, February 22, 2019, at Hospice Ministries in Ridgeland. The family will receive visitors beginning at 9:30 a.m. on Monday February 25, 2019 at Wright and Ferguson Funeral Home in Flowood, followed by a funeral service in the chapel at 11:00. The Rev.
Heather Hensarling will officiate the service along with the Rev. Pete Spitzkeit. Interment will follow in the Rock Hill Baptist Church Cemetery near Mount Olive at 2:30 p.m. Billy M. King Colonial Chapel Funeral Home of Collins will be in charge of the Mount Olive arrangements.
The daughter of the late Ellis Jacob and Maude Rogers Roberts, Elcyne was born April 5, 1928, in Mount Olive. Reared as a Southern Baptist, she developed an appreciation and love of the Methodist Church as an adult. She moved to Jackson in 1992 after 41 years as executive secretary to the president of Beihl & Co., a steamship agency in Houston, Tex.
Previously, she was employed with the United States Justice Department and assigned to posts in Washington, D. C., Kansas and Alabama before settling in Houston with her former husband, the late W. A. “Buddy” Ableson. Elcyne was an avid bridge player who enjoyed the fellowship and camaraderie of the game, and she loved a good blackjack game on occasion. She looked forward to receiving her copy of The Clarion-Ledger every day so that she could work the “easy” crossword puzzle, a feat she accomplished until she became too weak to write.
A gifted athlete, Elcyne excelled in track, softball, tennis, and basketball. During World War II, when the family moved to Pascagoula so her dad could guard the Ingalls shipyard, Elcyne attended Pascagoula High School and helped secure a womens basketball championship during her senior year. She was graduated from Chillicothe Business College in Missouri where she earned recognition as a crack tennis doubles player.
She continued her love of tennis as a league player in Houston. Elcyne was a strong woman before strong women were even a thing, and she could hold her own in any environment. As a single head of household, she worked hard, long hours to make sure her daughter Pam had every opportunity for success.
If anyone could be said to have done it her way, it would be Elcyne. Her friends and family learned many valuable lessons from her example. After a full career and life in Houston, Elcyne found a home in Jackson’s Ridgewood Court neighborhood where she enjoyed reading, playing bridge, walking, and shopping.
Her loving neighbors Luther, Linda, Virginia, Pete, Charles and the entire Neighborhood Association cared for her and she loved them all. In addition to her parents, Elcyne’s brother William Harold Roberts and her sister Mattie Joyce Roberts Loveless preceded her in death. Mrs. Roberts was blessed to have many Roberts and Rogers cousins to love.
She is survived by her daughter Pamela Ableson Johnson and her husband Bill, her granddaughter Erin Kasey Johnson Woods, her great-grandchildren Perrin Lee Woods and Cassidy Josephine Woods, all of the Reservoir area of Brandon; her grandson Joseph Ableson “Abe” Johnson of New York City; and her nieces and nephews, each of whom she loved as though they were her own children. In her last year, she was a happy resident of Peachtree Village in Brandon where she was treated with loving, supportive attention. Elcyne was a generous contributor to charitable causes and especially supported the Disabled American Veterans and Boys Town programs.
The family welcomes honoring her memory with a contribution to these or a charity of your choice or by providing a floral arrangement in her memory to a local hospital, school, nursing home, or senior center.
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